A Day at the Office by Mark Kerstetter Boggled. Paper stacked beneath a box of pencils, paint hardened in tubes, images not rendered fill mental picture frames like engorged intestines. A perimeter of nails, now rusty, encapsulates the unreliable frames. A pummeled palmetto bug drags itself out of the dust only to halt in the […]
Poems in History
Paper Birches by Glen Sorestad
Paper Birches by Glen Sorestad The clump birches beside the lakeshore are slowly peeling off their papery attire like well-practised lovers intent on sustaining that delicate tension between fantasy and reality. ### Glen Sorestad is a much published poet with over 20 books of poems. His poems have been translated into a half-dozen languages and […]
Hawk by Andrew Demcak
Hawk by Andrew Demcak Wings open, wind-carried, an angel’s book. Talons ready to change music to that of funeral dirge. Fixer, finder, life-adopter, sailing through cool ether. Mouse, you are not your hallowed body. Spectacular, the pale glory of flight, sublimely alone. One sharp cry above the May iris, or by winter, over branching pipes […]
Neon on the Outskirts at the Break of Dawn by Allan Safarik
Neon on the Outskirts at the Break of Dawn by Allan Safarik Washed out neon in the morning sun like a fish out of water A swift silence follows the odd vehicle travelling through town there are no people on the sidewalks as the crows fly up from the main intersection when the light changes […]
Poem Found in a Wood by Ian Dudley
Poem Found in a Wood by Ian Dudley the low sun turns puddles into sheets of sky indigo where the moon gathers its white and the custard and blood leaves of a cherry tree dying remember light a pheasant puts its sore throat to a trumpet a white-tipped propeller whirls into the trees cachinnating like […]
Changes to our submissions
We are looking for the best poetry out there! Send us your work, and we have a BIG CHANGE to our submissions policy. It is no longer required to submit your photo. If you would like your photo published with your work, you may submit one, but it is no longer required. Please send 3 […]
Autumn Portrait by Brian Drury
Autumn Portrait by Brian Drury When the day ends, she goes for a walk. She breathes in the autumn: How the Juniper leaves feel nothing. She remembers walking hand in hand With her father a long time ago, Her little hands cupped within his, Squeezing his fingers so tightly, No space between and safe. They […]
Morning by Tim Heron
Morning by Tim Heron Morning. She gets up. The shutters paint Her face a zebra. The curtains whisper: It’s a grey day, not a bad day, So she sips her tea with a sigh, A smile and a cigarette ### Tim Heron is 24 and was born in Belfast, in Ireland, but he grew up […]
The End of Summer by Andy N.
The End of Summer by Andy N. Soon Autumn will be here with it’s dusty and driving breeze across fields from the back of your house where poppies would previously dance with you now spit in your face. Autumn will hold your hand when you run to the train station every morning jagged with purpose […]
Nostalgic Summer Days by Ute Carson
Nostalgic Summer Days by Ute Carson A cluster of dark trees blurring into a green knoll, emerald sheen on velveteen moss, sprays of daisies across the grass bees greedily drinking from succulent centers, quick-stepping deer flitting by, fallen feathers of magpies. Naked feet dangle in a silvery brook that licks our soles with its babbling […]
The Preserver by Dawn Cunningham Luebke
The Preserver by Dawn Cunningham Luebke Salamonie Reservoir :hundreds of yards of shimmering leaves bubble trails in my eye. Dead trees thumb a ride, left behind after man flooded the land. I slow down for the red light. There’s a ripple in the drowning: a boat moves like an upside-down swing; fishes. The old church […]
From The Train Going Home by Donal Mahoney
From The Train Going Home by Donal Mahoney As we roar over and by the oaks are as still as the pond they surround Only the swans on the pond are moving Then from an oak a buckshot of crow cawing and leaving ### Donal Mahoney, a native of Chicago, lives in St. Louis, Missouri. […]
Vacation by William Aarnes
Vacation by William Aarnes Mouse droppings along the kitchen counter the morning you’re leaving your house vacant for a month. A flight to catch so nothing to do but wipe the counter and forget the chore you’ll find waiting the night your return. ### William Aarnes teaches English at Furman. He has two collections of […]
addio! by Denis Joe
addio! by Denis Joe Farewell: the rain trickles like candlewax when the flame is snuffed out by that last gasp of air and the world is static and hearts cease their music. You were a poem: a ballad; a sonnet. Now an elegy. ### Denis Joe writes a blog about poetry Talking Verse, and he […]
Darque Doll by Crystal Lane Swift
Darque Doll By, Crystal Lane Swift Cradling her wounds she thought back Pressed to the ground He had stolen her perfection Once bright white porcelain and pure She was now broken and scarred She did the only thing she could think to do Though soaked in her own blood She threaded her needle with […]