Poetry | Octoer 2023

that the gray interstates above
had been manufactured from the identical

scattered mild
that used to look at over me

(however not too carefully –
extra of an aunt’s gaze

than a mom’s)
altering hue with the solar’s

location, internet hosting rainbows
and thunderheads,

the occasional twister.
Or peering

by the lacy cover
of leaves.

Wanting up these vertical
hallways—raindrops looking out

for soil and seeds, tributaries
or tongues—I ducked behind

the large glass door and
thought of the likelihood that

I had not, in any case,
left the planet.

—Skye Gilkerson

Robe

She rises from
the sheets

of our
mattress

carrying nothing

however a
robe

of morning
mild

—Ryan Brennan

tinderbox

You’ll be able to’t fault me for considering that
each little ache ’n ache
is my final. I imply,
go searching!
Solely half of us are left
if that. There’s been plenty of
dying of late
and it hurts
close to my coronary heart
or what’s left
bereft of performs
and guarantees.

Street kill and compromise,
tomorrow’s actions
flip away
from the pillaged wine
and abhorrent proven fact that
we failed these innocents
we as soon as referred to as infants.

The most effective of us failed
and the remainder of us adopted.
Aloof to a world on fireplace.

—Mike Jurkovic

I might by no means
Kiss you on the lips
My pricey true buddy
I might by no means maintain your embrace for lengthy
I might by no means whisper in your ear I like you
My pricey true buddy

—Lisa Merksamer

Seen/Scene

Am I passing you,
or is it the opposite method ‘spherical?
Strains of sight collide
on a cresting freeway of damage

Are you right here for me,
or do I’ve all of it backwards?
As soon as once more we bloom
In quarters too cramped for consolation

Why we’re drawn to this fray,
this crush of exactly deliberate accidents?
Like magnets spinning lazy
We push til pull whirls ‘spherical

When ultimately we head residence collectively,
every offers up one after the other
Til we’re left simply the 2 of us
Not sure if we’re hungry or entire

—Cole Sletten

Muhheakunnuk

Not a love letter at this time
I need to present you my respect
You felt tough
Made it powerful to swim throughout
Felt like garments in a washer
It was onerous, was all I might say
Tried to go clean
Tried to search out my rhythm
Feeling standstill whereas steadfast
Labored out, I made it
Regardless of being so in my head
Not anxious about you maybe

Earlier than colonization and your naming after Hudson
You had been referred to as The River That Flows Each Methods
Nice Waters Consistently in Movement
And that’s what you’re
You present your greatness and your present
Life lives by you
You’re ebb and movement
Each/and
Let me really feel it by you
Really feel your magnificence, your scale, your movement
Pleasure and sorrow
Flip in the direction of
I’m in awe of you

—Heike Jenss

Reminiscences

We had come far
That summer season
Two thousand scorching miles
Traveled collectively
The solar in our eyes
Our plans made in one other world
Below the leafy arch
OfWashington Sq. Park
I hear the sound of sand beneath your foot once more
And we’re within the excessive desert

The dry pink desert
Sandstone orbitals as soon as underwater
Body a scudded sky
Now nothing
However the dry wind
The salt
I assumed I knew you then
Forgive me

—Augusta Block

Misgiving

I gave you a stone
You promised to not throw it at me
I gave you a web page
You stated you’ll write on it
I gave you my opinion
You stated
You don’t perceive me
And also you threw the stone at me

—Ze’ev Willy Neumann

Street Rage

Driving into visitors
I reduce a man off my mistake
sparks his anger no shock however
the depth
is so alarming
it lives like a storm
follows me down the street
at a visitors mild cease
he will get out of his automotive
calling me out
calls me “powerful man” startled
I attempt to apologize
he’s not having it
no hurt performed
but the fad I brought about
blows me away!

—C. P. Masciola

It Lies There

Decay—
it
lies
there

beneath
the white
of
recent snow
fall

as
the white
of
recent snow
falling.

—Daniel Brown

Autumn Descent

Having been adrift
leaves spoon one another
on ten stone steps
descending
the park’s grounds.

—Diane Webster

The Work of a Poet

A contact—the ushering in
of some temper—a blinding,
awakening quietude.

—Christopher Porpora

Thirst

Thirst is the worst,
a relentless dearth
of what’s important;
whenever you lengthy for water
you’re feeling you’re not lengthy
for this earth.
Spit
gained’t reduce it.
Solely factor tougher to bear
is not any air.

—Patrick Walsh

Sentinel

Blown again
By western winds
Sweeping gnarled cedar roots,
Sand-anchored, shoring riverbanks
In place.

—Tina Dybvik

Nos Novato

grew to become the Phoenix
and we, from ashes reborn
start at first

—Brian Gallio

Untitled

Come again in a day
You’ll fall ahead an evening

—J Candy

Testimony of loss

I noticed my mom.
She was at a celebration, laughing and speaking,
with a plate of meals in her proper hand.
Within the dream she in her 40s or 50s—vivacious,
the best way she was earlier than she retreated first to a chair,
then to a hospital mattress
and all of the whereas to a spot I couldn’t attain.

I sat in a nook, watching.
A candy canine slumped throughout my lap,
along with her head and paws draped over my legs.
She appeared deflated and I puzzled if she was sick.
Nonetheless, I didn’t transfer, the higher to carry shut her heat and softness.

Then she was gone.
She should have slid off and slunk away whereas I savored the second.
I attempted to search out her however quickly realized I by no means would.

After which the photographs, the story, vanished too
as I awoke right into a properly of disquiet.

—Sue Books

Waking

In case you’re fortunate, there’s the glitter of a dream,
A minnow’s flash of silver by your physique’s gentle internet,
However extra typically there’s merely nothing,

And your sleep is just a tunnel by the eyes
Temporary closure, whose finish is if you find yourself once more
Wrapped within the acquainted blanket of the self. In a daybreak soaked room

Every factor, from the stale glass of water on the bedside desk,
To the e-book left open on the tangled sheet, turns into one other
Cloud in an unchanging vary of sky,

The bearers of a weightless logic. You’ll be able to see from mattress
That the potted orchid close to the window has opened
When you had been sleeping.

—Nicholas Pagano

DB

A protracted driveway will inform you who you’re keen on.

—Gary Barkman