MY FIRST REAL SKY by Juan Mobili
Leaves
My wife told me,that her sister,the one I barely knew,when she got
her pair of glassessawthat leaveswere their own selves,
not the rowdy bunchof veinsand greenshe knew.
Imaginehow irresistibleher joy waswhen she met them.
My Father Smoking
The ceremony...
A CHILD LOST by Ray Keifetz
Fool’s Birthday
Not every daydo you pass through a doorwithout opening itand behind the iron boltfind cake.
Not every dayagainst the slow grinding glaciers,evaporating seas,the calcificationof every human heart,do you sing.
Not every day is a birthday.Not...
ASHORE by Laurie Hollman
AshoreIn the morning the scarring world holds me down so I cannot rise.I stretch my arms above my head like elastic bands with no end.My toes reach far below until my calves ache and...
LESSONS FROM MY FATHER by Yetta Rose Stein
REGARDING THE END
There is the brink.It is mostly off in the distance.It is sometimes very close.You will stroll up to it.Some of your friends will hungrily jog.There will be one or two who leap.You...
LEARNING A SONG by Jyothsna Phanija
Writing on a Tree
Thick plainness as sodaIce like migraineSlowing down thoughtsAs a reliefI findFingers covered in sandalwood paste.Half of it is wiped away with water, tingling,Listening to kajriI think of scrubbing fingers harshness in...
CATCHING UP WITH FRIENDS by John Grey
CATCHING UP WITH FRIENDS
All that peer pressure,no wonder she feltsorrow, anger,at her intact hymen
No way she couldsnip the thing herselfand no doctor woulddo the bloody deed.
So a one night standit was, a drunken onethat,...
BUTTERSCOTCH Bryanna Botham
I find us in Vol 314, Issue 4 of Scientific American
Two precision experiments disagree on how long neutrons live before decaying so maybethat explains the discrepancy between views on continuing our relationship;my experiment found...
AT GOULD FARM by Daniel Senser
The Garden of Eden
There is a song in the wellspring of my being,a rainbow that shines forth from my eyes.Like a child’s tears, it is endless, and from mybreath wafts the scent of the...
EXPAT by Joe Albanese
Trading Post at the Edge of Known
Empty more mistaken pearlto curl fate
and find oneself
somewhere withno starsand no fear,no knots andno ends
The varied cost not haggled,just peaked and tipped
Traverse naught and koan, andtrust the seed...
AMICUS CURIAE IN IGNE by William Pruitt
Amicus Curiae in Igne
Amicus curiae: an individual or organization who is not a party to a legal case, but who is permitted to assist a court by offering information, expertise, or insight that has...