1. Finally, the Poet Speaks Out The Reluctant Gardener chides the Lazy Writer You have to finish your poem. You can’t let the radical right rule this country. And you, sister, have to plant lavender. I can’t write unless I can breathe. I close my eyes, drift Do not be lazy. You need to be…
Category: Poetry
Two Poems | Ojo Victoria Ilemobayo
1. My Murdered Land The street lies gloriously in ruins,One step in the soil- just like a travail at birth. Our murdered land is painted with tussle and beautiful pangs,And night is mixed with servile fearfulness and veteran buzzing mosquito at a feast. Beware of the one-eyed macho-a monstrous visage, So hallowed and gracious in…
The Song That Hums From a Bird’s Mouth | Osho Oláìítan Jeremiah
This blazing ball of fire iswhat I can’t touch in its eyes.If I do, I’ll have four fingers left to draw the print of my feet. The waves of beautiful waters that glints blue and the downpour of its dryness is the lines of steam beneath my eyes…I hopped over. I felt the sweetness of…
Two Poems | Donna Dallas
1. Arch Dark arched eyebrowson the corpse of my grandmotherremind me of a rootcurved deep into the groundwielding a stalk,a flowershrunk shut. Her brows were archedlike the outlineof a seagullheadedstraight into the sun. 2. Alive in New York Pace the streetslike ancient giants.Walk days and crack smilesin the concrete. The wind blows throughyour shirt and…
Three Poems | Robert Beveridge
1. DO YOU HAVE A MOMENT TO DISCUSS A PAYMENT PLAN? Termites will only deserta ship they helped sink.They ride driftwood to shore,scope out the perfectbeachfront cottage. There isliquor to be had betweenbites of support column,dancing behind the drywall,a fortress of stone underthe floorboards. The landlordsprays dioxin every two weeks;it is, of course, never enough….
Two Poems | Sergio Ortiz
Elephant Caregiver When he dreams of himselfhe takes on the body of an angryBengal elephant charging.Chases himself out of dreams,wakes up screaming,nights I sleep in the shadows. in the raspy voice of Janis Joplin 1.i accept it, not all beardsand muscles are for my viewing.At least not all the ones I like. 2.clap people, clap…
Three Poems | Anoucheka Gangabisson
Moving On Life moves on, In ways so surprising That they evoke gasps from our souls! Life moves on, Even if it has lost one of its limbs Or if it has bled itself To exhaustion, It moves on, Because its nature is thus, Made to swirl in its own flow As carefreely as would…
Three Poems | Joan McNerney
Trees Can Dance I stand…a cold sculpture against greyskies. Naked and defiant my limbsetched against weak light. Blackengravings stretching over heaven. Spring begins its tiny birth coveringme with small buds. My leavesbecome longer each rainfall andgreener each day. Birds come peckingberries filling me with their chorus. Now comes heat and my luxuriousleaves grow in myriad…
In The City of Angels | Alex Andy Phoung
Angelic angels gather aroundWhere hope and opportunity could be found“La La Land” might be idiomaticBut nothing is truly automaticFor the willpower of perseveranceCan bring The City of AngelsInto existenceBecause when gracious people gatherUnification is what really matters Alex Andy Phuong earned his Bachelor of Arts in English from California State University—Los Angeles in 2015. He was…
Four Poems | Michael Lee Johnson
Fiction Girl (Transition) Drawings, then poems flip over to fiction; the flash girl rides this ghost of the invention. Insecure in youth, switch girl from drawing to poetry, extension flight, outer fiction space, yours is a manner of words at work. Mercury is a god of movement. A new skill set, brain twister, releases 100…
Three Poems | Fabrice Poussin
Aura Smirking at those rascally decadesshe floats to another destinyfresh as a newborn of spring. Long ago she abandoned the baggy skirtsmade for a girl by matriarchal handswhen she caught a strange image in the glass. A message came in crimson inkit seemed it was time to jump through circlesthe bones ached as she attempted…
Two Poems | Jake Sheff
The Prince of Mincemeat Pie Resumes A collaboration between Grace Curtis and Jake Sheff In other words, in another world you stillIndwell. Do tell, dead Mother, how or Where. Vietnam was no vacation, but this Common sorrel is uncommonly sororal, And the day hands me a vitamin. Like Odysseus of old, will I see you in Tartarus? Believable guess, though, if I see you, There stands truth…
Five Poems | Vern Fein
WHOSE FAULT? I don’t care if that donkeyspoke to Balaam or not.Let the scribes and scholarsbray over that. On a mission,tempted by Balak’s riches,Balaam blessed the Israelitesinstead of cursed. My issue is beating the donkey.Because the poor creature balkedwhen he saw the Angel,which Balaam did not see,the prophet, in a rage,pummeled his poor donkey—three times—with…
Two poems | Sergio Ortiz
“I know there’s something better down the road.”Praise Song for the Day, Elizabeth Alexander The wolf I saw a wolf pass by.His eyes left tracks all over my body.Stealthy and hungry he walkedthrough the city confidentabout the future. Now that the shuttersare down, a wolf waitsto devour my ballot. When I tryto quiet my fear…
Subject | Alex Andy Phuong
Titular topicMatters that matterRemoving extraneous detailsAnd driving right into the heartFor even if a heart is darkThere could still beA potential sparkTo rejuvenate the heart and soulAnd make someone truly wholeFor the subject of the storyIs the first-person narratorKnown as “I” Alex Andy Phuong earned his Bachelor of Arts in English from California State University—Los Angeles…
Two Poems | Michael Lee Johnson
Family Feud Break in the rain, thunderstorms; bolt angular lightning slithers away west. Walking, nanosecond flash family memories, personal, revert, tautology fault of style acerbic chats daggers in heart these words, confused, dicey dungeon sharp spike. A labyrinth, ruined passages, secret chambers, cellmates, now for life. Wind storms move away, young willow trees natter— smallest…
Communicators League 