Category: Poetry (Page 31 of 43)

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Snow

8 January 2023 /

Poetry by Charlene Lyon

Snow is gravity pulling crystals
which knit into a blanket
tucked under
the sleeping trees.

A muffled, fluffy quiet.
Interrupted by scrunch scrunch boots
and the woodpecker knocking
on doors for brunch.

Charlene Lyon is a writer and poet from Cleveland, Ohio. Her work has appeared in Cleveland Magazine, Northern Ohio Live, Sun Newspapers and elsewhere. Her poetry will be featured in June as part of Standing Rock Cultural Arts’ 30th anniversary calendar in Kent, Ohio. She enjoys a good espresso and walking under trees with her beloved husband.

Photo by Chris on Unsplash

Hide and Seek with Robin

6 January 2023 /

Poetry by Lilyth Coglan

He came to visit me in September as I pulled out the weeds
I was late to gardening this season
I felt him tutting at me under his red breast
Then he left for a while
Till November arrived
I guarded the cat away from him
Telling her “He is my Robin now stay away”
He bobs his head in and out the tree
Merrily bouncing along the fence
Always chirpy, always happy
I wondered why
Then I realise,
Winter is soon to arrive.

Lilyth Coglan is a poet and a writer from Hull in the UK. Locally she has been on the radio and news sharing poetry and spoken word, and was part of a female arts festival called She Festival in lock down 2020. She writes about mental health, life, love and politics.

Photo by Evie Fjord on Unsplash

Christmas Tree Thrown Away

1 January 2023 /

Special Selection for the 2022/2023 Winter Holiday Issue

Poetry by Mona Mehas

Still, it lies there in the snow
All shimmer and crystal shining,
Icicles dangling all a-glow,
And with each branch, entwining.

The balls that were hung so carefully
Are now scattered upon the ground
And fallen there, disdainfully
Are candy canes with stripes around.

The lights that twinkled ever so bright
To all the world for seeing
No longer light up Winter’s nights,
Nor the souls of human beings.

The garland, and popcorn strings, and bows,
Along with children’s delight –
They’ve all tumbled to Angels’ snows,
Brilliant colors absorbed in white.

And last but not least, the star, so great,
Has been tossed aside, no doubt,
For it’s broken – count them – in pieces of eight,
As the New Year, it’s opened and let Christmas out.

Mona Mehas (she/her) writes about growing up poor, accumulating grief, and climate change. A retired teacher in Indiana, she’s at her laptop most days. She’s published in Words & Whispers, Grim and Gilded, and others. In 2020, she watched every Star Trek show and movie in chronological order. Find her on Twitter @Patienc77732097.

Photo by Valentina Dominguez on Unsplash

Children’s Cookies

23 December 2022 /

Special Selection for the 2022/2023 Winter Holiday Issue

Poetry by Will Neuenfeldt

Baked snowflakes
naked on their trays
await little cousins
armed with butter knives,
ready to blanket the batch
with freshly dyed ice.
The first trays are pristine
with green Tannenbaum’s
adorn with ribbon and stars
while Frosty holds a pipe
in his parabolic smile.
Only then they delve into
Betty Crocker’s nightmare
as frosting blends brown,
sprinkles flurry onto linoleum,
and the older boy is scolded for
the phallus he penned
onto Frosty’s best friend.
Like the sheets of snow
covering the Holiday landscape
they are unique but
thankfully edible and sweet.

Will Neuenfeldt studied English at Gustavus Adolphus College and his poems are published in Capsule Stories, Open, and Red Flag Poetry. He lives in Cottage Grove, MN, home of the dude who played Steven Stifler in those American Pie movies and a house Teddy Roosevelt slept in.

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The Willow in Winter

21 December 2022 /

Special Selection for the 2022/2023 Winter Holiday Issue

Poetry by Jennifer L. Gauthier

In the rain the sleet the snow
the willow bends low
and deep
bowing
like a monk in prayer.

She bends but does not
break.

Her strength is in her
supple
limbs stretching.

Jennifer L. Gauthier is a professor of media and culture at Randolph College in Southwestern Virginia. She has poems published in Tiny Seed Literary Journal, South 85, Gyroscope Review, Nightingale & Sparrow, The Bookends Review, little somethings press, HerWords Magazine and Tofu Ink Arts Press.

clear glass sphere
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Separation Anxiety

19 December 2022 /

Special Selection for the 2022/2023 Winter Holiday Issue

Poetry by John Grey

Winter brings me deep snow.
You get the same old kudzu.
If only my frozen air
could fly south
to your steamy fishing shack,
if parka and gloves
knew their way around a line and hook.

Deer tremble through the flakes,
flirt with the ephemeral.
An alligator pokes a head
through brown swamp surface.
Its message is clear.

We live in different worlds
and there’s no shaking the fact.
The weather has cut me off completely.
You feel a little night time chill
but can’t decide if it’s the breeze
or your fourth beer
that’s behind it all.

If only mangrove and coral snake
could float up from the south,
surprise me at my door,
instead of these insolent drifts.

We haven’t just lost touch.
Our winters are different seasons.

John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in Sheepshead Review, Stand, Poetry Salzburg Review and Red Weather. Latest books “Covert” “Memory Outside The Head” and “Guest Of Myself” are available through Amazon. See upcoming work in Washington Square Review and Open Ceilings.

acorn advent blur bright
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Christmastide

16 December 2022 /

Special Selection for the 2022/2023 Winter Holiday Issue

Poetry by Ralph La Rosa

(with apologies to Emily Dickinson)

O my dear Prodigious Elf
That merry month is here.
I madly hope You’ll gift myself
With what I’d like—this Year—

A brand-new feeder for my birds
The Phoebes and the Hummers—
Happy wingèd—little—Bards
In Choirs every Summer.

On Wizards of the World’s best Words
Bestow the Wit to Weave—
Worthy webs from their Word-Hoards
That Measure Man’s beliefs.

And lastly—let One—realize
How Chill a life can be
Without those sometimes—sunny—Smiles
That rarely shine on me.

Ralph La Rosa’s poetry appears widely on the Internet, in print journals and anthologies, and in the chapbook Sonnet Stanzas and full-length collections Ghost Trees and My Miscellaneous Muse.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

A Rare Snowstorm

14 December 2022 /

Special Selection for the 2022/2023 Winter Holiday Issue

Poetry by Sarah Bruenning

There was snow in the forecast, for the last day of the year and the last day of our trip. We heard that the town wouldn’t know what to do with it – that snow was rare here, even in December. I worried that the stretched, sloped driveway would be impossible to get back down, and that the table you booked months before would sit empty. The day before, the winter sun convinced us otherwise as we climbed over the orange clay and brown desert rocks to get to the closest vortex that looked out over the valley. The day before, the sun was so warm that you had to take off your jacket halfway through our hike, and the daylight was so bright that it ruined the polaroid I tried to take up top. We ate at the pizza place in town for the second time and drove past the nice restaurant on the way back to note where it was. The day before, we dragged our thin blankets outside to sit and drink under the clear sky. The next day, we woke to the silent kind of snow already dusted over the desert rocks and the driveway and our two lawn chairs in the garden.

Sarah Bruenning recently graduated with an MFA from the University of Missouri in St. Louis. Her poetry has been published in Glassworks, River & South Review, and Stonecrop Magazine. She also works as a reader for Boulevard.

brown gift box
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The Fourth Gift

11 December 2022 /

Special Selection for the 2022/2023 Winter Holiday Issue

Poetry by Brant Short

the magi brought three gifts to the child
but they forgot the most important one of all
as purveyors of wisdom they should have known this truth
a book is the most powerful object ever created by human hands
 
books are time machines
          that break the chain of present tense
books are maps
          directing us to wonderous places we never knew existed
books are medicines
          tonics, potions and salves with the power to heal a broken life
books are tools
          hammers, saws, and nails that help us build thoughts, words, and deeds
 
a book offers life changing wisdom but only if we accept the terms of the offer
     be open to all ideas
         share the good, reject the bad
              honor the human labor that crafted the book
                   never take the magic of a good book for granted

Brant Short was raised in rural Idaho and studied history and communication in college. He recently retired from Northern Arizona University after 26 years of teaching and has turned to creative expression. He has published poetry in several journals including Back Channels, The Limberlost Review, and Roanoke Review.

Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash

yuletide carol

10 December 2022 /

Special Selection for the 2022/2023 Winter Holiday Issue

Poetry by RC deWinter

last christmas eve
it was just us
misfits in a jigsaw world

neither of us believe
so we sent words
backandforthandbackandforth
about ourselves
how we’d lived
who we’d loved
what we hoped for

it was so much better
than being alone on a night
we’ve been conditioned
to expect should be
merry and bright

with song and candles
food and drink
the smiling faces
of the families we never had

so we faked it and it worked

eventually an ocean of regret
washed away the lighthouse
i don’t see you shining out there
in the northern night
and i’m thinking
you’re not even looking for me

this christmas eve
i’ll be sitting in that same chair
holding that same phone

listening to nothing but the wind
singing a frigid dirge
down the chimney
rattling windows
rattling bones
remembering you

RC deWinter’s poetry is widely anthologized, notably in New York City Haiku (NY Times/2017), The Connecticut Shakespeare Festival Anthology (River Bend Bookshop Press, 12/2021) in print: 2River View, the minnesota review, Plainsongs, Prairie Schooner, Southword, Twelve Mile Review, York Literary Review among others and appears in numerous online publications.

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