Issue 42

Thomas Beck

The leaves make my heart
Jump. The flowers make me sing.
Life is beautiful.

Marie Long

Tired bones of mine
Marinated misery
This life is so long

Richard Flick

Pressed from rotten fruit
Flies meander on the brim
Roasting in the sun

Emily Rojas

Lush massive towers
Sit under the canopy
Silence deafening

Bill DiMichele

late summer drowses
a country cemetery
gravestones forgotten

Nells Wasilewski

freezing rain and wind
dance across a wooden deck
winter's rhapsody

Susan Gentry

winds of wasted words
collections of deception
dreams blown to pieces

Martin Knabe

Illuminating
naked branches in the snow
- The buzzing porch lamp.

Gabriella Giugliano

Mighty loon dips head,
moonlight off-beat anagram.
Shadow ripple shrinks.

Chris Fulbirg

Torrential flash rain!
Under the tree shade; haiku
to girls rushing by.

Ana Prundaru

water lily croaks
painting a smile on my face
I find Basho's frog

Michael Flanagan

Gray clouds hide the sun?
Snowflakes bustle past my nose?
Winter stomps his feet.

Rob J Mann

Bitter autumn wind
Sinks teeth into summer's end.
Leaves visibly flinch.

Rob J Mann

Summer rain spatter
Unsettled dusky maiden.
Parasol resort.

Christine S. O'Connor

night, how still the surf
only murmurs in the air
new moon overhead

Lucy Ryan

sparrow-heart, darling
do you drink from the river?
taking stones inside

Joan Gove

Luminous white orb
Hangs high in the crisp night sky
Midst bright diamonds

Roberto Carcache Flores

Snow in our courtyard
Waiting by the windowsill
My breaths trace your name.

Charman Goodwin

Slumbering Poorwills,
discreetly in winters wake,
quiescence recede.

Hayli Cox

The lily felt loved
'till the bee pollinated
again and again.

Shelly Reed Thieman

Red-tailed carnivore
dive-bombs cottontail rabbit;
geranium snow.

Maryam Qureshi

Maturing wheat stalks...
Weave of hope flashes upon
The farmer's belief

Anna Cates

wind tossed lace curtains?
marriage of cabbage and brine
six green canning jars

Derek Childs

Innocent budgies
sneakily drop deposits
on my new jacket.

Abigail Van Kirk

my soul's sinews strain,
mustang heart seethes wanderlust,
lovingly unkempt.

Marc Beaudin

Fingertip branches
typing notes at my window
Delivered by owls

Christa Planko

Perched on her sky shelf --
the delicate China moon --
fragile, porcelain.

Jackie Maugh Robinson

sweet golden lap-dog
all eighty-five pounds of you
got enough room there?

Andrea Barton

Spaces between words
are swinging wide open gates
honesty escapes

Dean Miller

bamboo sways and bends
gives way without questioning
the source of the wind

Dean Miller

eternal mountains
snowy birthplace of rivers
oceans receive life

Miken Namwen

Grey bowed wing heron
lands as sentry of quick death~
pickerels dart deep

Miken Namwen

Blackbird on the lawn
head nodding from side to side~
old lady gossips

Jackie Biggs

Valley lost in cloud,
rain falls steady all morning,
drips glisten on twigs

Helen May Williams

rough grass golden fleck
ritual feast for spring plumage ?
male blue tit alights

Helen May Williams

one slice with the hoe ?
they lie severed uprooted
the pansies he sowed

Elizabeth F. Hill

misty winter wraith
spreads pale and rimy fingers
a cool numbing touch

Deborah Guzzi

covered by fresh snow
the kale roots sipping the melt:
birds peck at the edge

Ren Martinez

the air shimmers hot
heavy with water - sugared
honeysuckle ripe

Mary R. P. Schutter

thick piney refuge
feathered wallflowers sit out
blizzard's crazy dance

John Lawrence Darretta

swiftly shooting star
cyan streaks on shadowed sky
tall treetops tremble

Patricia Rossi

forsythia burst
slumbered gardens awaken
birds rejoice in song

Lois Battersby

Pale green periscopes
Piercing seas of muddy snow
Seeking warmth and light

Ron Scully

jumbo honey bee
bumbling out of my mailbox
drunk on Vogue nectar

Sandra Barnett

winter snow melting
revealing green grass below
blue jays in the rain

Sandra Barnett

fox tracks in old snow
pale sunlight through morning clouds --
planes out of Dulles

Susan Gentry

howling northern winds
break bare tree limbs and branches
leaving open wounds

Ron Scully

Cape foxtail grasses
slight agreeable sea breeze
rustles awns faintly

Lianne Kamp

Blue hours turn to smoke
Lampposts darken their shadows
Last breath of the day

Carolyn Smuts

Here above the clouds
Seeing the freeway below
Looking down at birds