THE HARDEST PART by I.G.
The Hardest Part
This song teleports me back to another time.
The sun was high in the sky, and so was I.
The music drives with its lyricism.
And the days now are driven by algorithms.
I think about...
THE FIRST LOCKDOWN by Shera Hill
THE FIRST LOCKDOWN
birdsong splashed mornings
grass-shadowed fawns
quail, rabbits and
coyotes
abound
a brief reprieve,
Brothers and Sisters
Fool’s Gold
how lonely we’ll be when you’re gone
I read once that nothing is ever lost.
Does Gaia hold you always in her heart—your spirit,...
RACING THE SUPERNOVA by Daniel King
M Charactered
And in the glare Mu Cephei roils
As if to dare armed craft to draw near
Or to deter steel souls from rare risk
Which is the high dream I Kalki chose
So now I boost thrust...
THE CORK OAK OF PORTUGAL by Reed Venrick
The Cork Oak of Portugal
Riding the bus down and along—
Lisbon to Faro on the Algarve coast,
passing through dry, hilly forests—
from the distance of your seat, they
seem to be the same burly oaks
of California—many with...
LIE WITH ME IN THIS MOMENT by Sarah Stephens
Lie with me in this moment
sink into the book of me
where all my stories wait to be told. Take out the pages
and read–
It’s not quite Spring here– where Winter lags in the heat
and humidity...
VICTORIA PARK LAKE by Nathanael OReilly
Goulburn
A muddy river
flanked by gums wanders through town
past rope swings hanging
from high branches, rippling around
snags and sandbanks, flowing home
Tingalpa
The bush spread to the reservoir’s
edge. Water stretched out of sight
round the peninsula. Wind-blown
waves chopped across...
MEMENTO by Bess Amelia Yeager
Scar Tissue Land
I don’t recognize the yellowed veins of wood
chapping into hot, sun-hardened beams. It has been too long
since I came here last: to the scar tissue land
where my pets are buried. My brother,...
AMULET by Mary Jane White
AMULET
voice of Penelope
62
All the young men came in
But you were never there
Standing as likely under a rafter
Off-center
Visible enough
63
As a still small-footed
Never old & wandering vine
Your trunk the exact imperfect
Square pillar
64
Light red leaves
On a low...
VISITOR FOR THE DAY by Duane Anderson
Ms. Know-It-All
She seemed to consider herself an expert
after only donating one time prior,
and from the look that she gave me,
I definitely got the warning signal that it was
beneath her needing to review the advance
reading...
THE CITY by Lorraine Caputo
THE CITY
(Caracas)
I.
This other overcast morning
I hear two snaps echo
up the narrow streets
It is time to greet
the day
II.
Children in school uniforms
adults in work clothes
hurry down these narrow streets
On a patch of grass
near worn buildings
A man...