Poetry - Year V - Number 29 - October 2019

WILLOW AND BARK by Sally Sandler  Somedays I Am That Cypress                                                                                 The past has all blown east.The Monterey cypress felt it leavein the teeth of a Pacific sea squall.Ever since, the cypress has leaned easttoward the...

RETURN by Angela Shepherd Return You came to me as I took my first breath, the spirit which filled my lungs and energized my beginning with grace.  My life dependent on your presence, inspired by your mystery,...

Captive Thursday’s trap door below hermemory swings and                   upclimbs the same captoralways that man, grey wool suitred carnationtaking her furniture, picturesSaturdays hostageagain she bumps into the                       emptyspaces between bare wallsof personal careTuesday teaspoons...

SCAVENGERS by Hank Kalet Father Becomes the Son He says he should justhave a heart attack. Done. And whenI reprimand, I feel the embersof past fires burningin my gut. At eighty,he’s earned his self-obsession, but pityis not...

EMPRESS by Chani Zwibel  EMPRESSPlease send good newsand graceful configurations of repose.I want to recline on this silver maple settee and read this gilt-edged tome in peace.I keep dreaming of stone circles. I can’t keep count of all...

SUNDAY AFTERNOON by Stuart Rawlinson  Commutations The morning commute begins on the hourAs nighttime and daylight adjoin in friction.Buses interrupt as I squint for my number;Balanced and hovering on the kerb’s edgeIn front of staring commuters like...

THE METAPHOR by Andy J Hale  Ichthyes It’s the birth of immortality… Crawl across the waterMy father is the oceanWho is your radiant mother? To the sound of the drumthe rival moves forwardIt is the art of war I am...

MORNING SONG by John Leonard  No Cream, No Sugar Being awake feels like having eternal patience.Nights slowly dripping into my orange coffee cup. I don’t remember who gave it to me,or where I got it from. Like most...

Dogs of AustraliaFor German migrants internedas enemy aliens on Torrens Islandin the Port Adelaide River Estuaryduring World War 1.1I am a dog of AustraliaWalked here by this country’s first peopleAcross a land bridge long...

ONE SINGLE ROSEby Edward Bonner  ONE SINGLE ROSEIf I could offer one single rose’with ruby petals,blades of crimson,showered in dreams,from my garden where seasons are unknown.Would you understand?If a stream runs through graciously’in short,under breath,soft...