Poetry - Year V - Number 31 - December 2019

ALTEREDby LB Sedlacek AssemblyPlace theframeon a flatcleansurface bend tabsbackremove protectivefilminsertpictureartworklifebend tabsforwardandpresstosecurehangframeon aflatcleansurface. Nobody’s PlaygroundI noticed the slides first, hidden in thetrees, trees grown up around camouflagingthe unused abandoned playgroundthe utility building red with doors wideopen – it is empty,...

LISBONby Byron Beynon   WAVESFirm muscles of watermove deliberately across the boardpumping the air with sounds;a panoply of waves,the preserved overlapin a mind of curling whisperscome to blend with the shore.Complex characterswith a fickle strengththeir joints...

SWALLOWBy Keith Hoerner  engrossed with millions of americansin others’ misfortunes       movement distracts me       from the nearly two-hundred pound nine year old on tv       you carry a juicy earthworm in your bone-colored beak       to feed three tiny,...

AFTERNOON MUSINGby Steven Gerber     I gaze from my window,side-tracked from thevolume of Mythology,open on my lap.My notebook nearby,I am now impacted.I wallow in the shadowsof West, Steinbeck, Fante,and all others whom havegraced this great state.I...

WOMEN IN LOVEby Karen Deaver Women in Love Her art, his mine, saliva minglesin the Midlands grass cut sweet andtongues lap to the rescue of the drowned. No one wasto know their hearts were promisedbetween mountains and...

SHADOWS AT NOONby Terry Brinkman                                                                                                                 Shadows at Noon Swift wings no longer serveShadows at noonLike sailboats along the horizonClouds shadows quakingA flock of birds crashes pastNow calm returnsAn arrow quivers the airLike sailboats along the horizonWith...

LISPby Jean-Luc Fontaine  Ode to the Old Naked Man in the Gym Locker Room Have you ever seen a throng of half-naked....muscled men turn their heads in shamelike little boys during the nude scenes of an...

Survivisection A coal stove burns in the corner. I don't want a coal stove. In a survival situation, versatility is essential.Knife, ax & machete — these items are extremely necessary. Other minimallists have taken the count-ing challenge to the limit.I...

THE ARENAby Doug Bolling Once More Summer of 2018  along the Gulf.Our journeys toward an undecidedFar off but strangely near.The quickening winds from the south,Touch of palm leaf against exploring flesh.0ur voices sometimes taut as new...