Category: Poetry (Page 41 of 47)

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Crumbs

27 June 2022 / Editor

Poetry by t.m. thomson

Maybe the woods are on fire with green.
Maybe wild violets pepper the ground
in the March-cool air. Maybe leaves hang
from rain-drenched branches slick

with October or maybe snow’s audacity
coats ground & breath. Maybe regardless
I choose to sit in a broad-seated swing
pump my legs & sweep back & forth

scraping soil & coming face-to-face
with sky. Maybe I slow-kiss dawn & savor
afternoon & trust twilight, staying out
as long as moon & wearing a red dress.

It would be lovely if women would dance
below me. They could wear red as well
& shout encouragement at me & Glee
would rule the day & night.

Laughter & off-color conversation
would raise temples from mushroom
& moss. Surely the gods of the forest
would hear & come slithering/hopping/

soaring with heads raised & noses
twitching their curiosity at our offerings
of stirred leaves & shuffled snow
revealing black seed & apple rind

shards. We are but crumbs of cosmos
ourselves—why not blaze woods
with the green of our voices, shower them
with ahhh, shiver them with Yes?

(inspired by Niels Corfitzen – “Swimming Between Clouds,” 2021)

Three of t.m. thomson’s poems have been nominated for Pushcart Awards. She is co-author of Frame and Mount the Sky (2017), author of Strum and Lull (2019), which placed in Golden Walkman’s 2017 chapbook competition, and The Profusion (2019). Her first full-length collection, Plunge, will be published next year.

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Heartfelt: A Bilinguacultural Poem

25 June 2022 / Editor

Poetry by Yuan Changming

感：/gan/ perception takes place

when an ax breaks something on the heart

闷: /men/ depressed whenever your heart is

shut behind a door

忌：/ji/ jealousy implies

there being one’s self only in the heart

悲：/bei/ sorrow comes

from the negation of the heart

惑：/huo/ confusion occurs

when there are too many an ‘or’ over the heart

忠：/zhong/ loyalty remains

as long as the heart is kept right at the center

恥：/chi/ shame is the feel

you get when your ear conflicts with your heart

怒: /nu/ anger influxes when slavery

rises from above the heart

愁: /chou/ worry thickens as autumn

sits high on your heart

忍:/ren/ to tolerate is to bear a knife

straightly above your heart

忘: /wang/ forgetting happens

when there’s death on heart

意: /yi/ meaning is defined as

a sound over the heart

思: /si/ thought takes place

within the field of heart

恩: /en/ kindness is

a reliance on the heart

Yuan Changming hails with Allen Yuan from poetrypacific.blogspot.ca. Credits include 12 Pushcart nominations & chapbooks (most recently LIMERENCE) besides appearances in Best of the Best Canadian Poetry (2008-17), Poetry Daily & BestNewPoemsOnline, among 1929 others. Yuan served on the jury and was nominated for Canada’s National Magazine (poetry category).

Who Knew

23 June 2022 / Editor

Poetry by Barry H. Gordon

Someone wrote tenderly,
knowingly,
of the death of a classmate,
as we casually prepared
for the reunion
of the living
next summer.

Who knew, Durbin,
that your oddness,
your awkward efforts
to connect,
were linked to years,
fourteen we are told,
in a foster home.
And who knew
of the heartache
you carried at graduation
because your father
hadn’t survived to see you
walk across the stage
of life.

And who knew
really much of anything
about the true you,
or the true me
for that matter.
We just walked across
that stage
and most of us
kept on walking.

Still, I am jolted
to hear
you have dropped out of line
and I have missed
my chance to know you.

Barry H. Gordon is a retired psychologist and a published author of Your Father, Your Self and two co-authored books. He is an emerging poet who has been writing poetry throughout his career.

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Sparrows I Have Known

21 June 2022 / Editor

Poetry by Catherine Coundjeris

My first memory is of song–
song in sunlight rapturous and bright.
Elusive bodies hopping in branches
and on rooftops, lining wires
and chattering back and forth.

In Boston to my delight,
by old Ironsides, they
came to rest on my table.
Perching on the backs of chairs,
begging for morsels.

With my brother in Oxford,
we noticed their variety
marveled at their language
photographed them on walks.

Now in Frederick, outside Walmart,
they sit on baskets, flit
between cars, and angle
for scraps still curling along
the macadam.

It is April and I remember
our trek through back roads,
looking for hawks and eagles
with sparrows for company.

I have seen them
beat each other up
at bird feeders.
We have my brother’s old
feeder but we need
to buy a post for it.

They come anyway and
taste the seeds
on our fruit trees,
alighting on the wildflowers
on the hill behind our house.
My brother would have enjoyed it here.

A former elementary school teacher, Catherine Coundjeris has taught writing at Emerson College and ESL writing at Urban College in Boston. Her poetry is published in The Dawntreader, Visions with Voices, Nine Cloud Journal, Academy of the Heart and Mind, Bombfire, Paper Dragons and many more.

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Pilgrim

19 June 2022 / Editor

Poetry by Rob Lowe

I like clocks, and books, and music,
Things which structure the way forward,
Are signposts and dwelling places.

Map-reading living is my hobby;
But exploring the nature of being
Requires a compass of faith.

I am waterproofed with hope,
My thoughts are warm but breathable;
I am well-equipped for the journey.

And when at last the sun goes down
After a walk through mountain terrain,
I pitch a tent of morality.

I have no home, nor family,
My friends are birds and beasts and trees;
They talk to me nightly.

I saw a harvest once, of people,
Crowded on a plain below;
And in the midst there was a steeple

And what tolled from its Sunday bell?
There is no lasting peace until
Religion consists of poetry.

Rob Lowe has written privately for many years, but only lately started submitting pieces for publication. Typical work can be found in recent issues of Lucent Dreaming, Libretto, Seventh Quarry, Aromatica Poetica, and some anthologies. He lives in Milton Keynes in the U.K.

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The Clock

17 June 2022 / Editor

Poetry by James Blears

We bought the clock when I was ten, two or nine,
I just can’t recall, but it had a fine chime.

I do remember it ticking day and night, all in all,
Tutting, like a maiden aunt, perched on a table, in the hall.

But as minutes and months and years went by, it’s time keeping,
Became slack, then a joke and finally a downright lie.

It lost respect by losing time, so no one consulted it any more,
For when it promised it was three O clock, it was past time for a tardy tea
At well after half past four.

And then one day with its hands at noon,
Not a moment too soon, and not that far from our front door,
It’s pulse just ceased, and it was no more.

James Blears is a British journalist based in Mexico City since 1992.

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Surprise on the Tollway Enroute to New York

15 June 2022 / Editor

Poetry by Carol Coven Grannick

Indiana, you surprise me:
in the rain, a painting unfolds
of clouds outlined with your gold brush
as if placed in for effect
and clouds from brushes
dipped in grey and swiped across
the sky, shaping the rhythm
of breath as it flows
over the open land
gazing at burnished corn stalks,
food gone for feed
and under the signature of the grey brush
a quiet low-hanging pink
that begs to be seen as beautiful.

Carol Coven Grannick is a poet and children’s author whose novel in verse, Reeni’s Turn, debuted from Fitzroy Books in 2020. Call Me Bob, a nonfiction narrative in verse, will be a 2022 Oprelle publication. Her poetry has appeared in a wide variety of print & online journals.

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Memories of Arenal

13 June 2022 / Editor

Poetry by Hilary Stanton

In my teacup I hear
rain—rush on the roof,
rumble of approaching jungle storm
slapping shiny leaves, broad
sides to the sun still shining.

Hammock hung under
a tin roof, open
to wind introducing
coming clouds.
The light drops,
deafening water
rattles, hammers corrugated metal.

I sip my tea.
The pitch in the cup drops,
the drops hang shining.

Hilary Stanton lives in the Boston area with her husband and their three homeschooled kids. She enjoys hiking and designing original creations using yarn, fabric, or words. Her work has been published in Cobalt Review and Light; she is currently working on a novel.

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A moth and her flame

10 June 2022 / Editor

Poetry by Thai Lynne

the children fall asleep
my skin absorbs the violent silence
and I come alive: unfolding, expanding
like a set of lungs, a deep breath
and I exhale stardust and simplicity
but there is a restlessness in letting life decide
which direction to point my painted toes
and when to lean in but my body resists
there is a prickling under my skin
and its name is not Satisfaction
I leave it outside the door with the snow on my boots
and I unfold inside this house that isn’t mine
the flickering heat of the fireplace
is like aloe on my sunburnt skin
soothing the ache beneath and I yearn for the peace
that comes from living with intention
as though I were the architect of my own life
rather than a spectator, and I envy
this house pregnant with purpose
and its name is Contentment
a place where those of us
the weary Empaths, overwhelmed
can curl up with a glass of wine in the hot tub
and flirt with desire and design
and oh! the spicy heat that drowns us
under the burden of a life not fully lived
can either wear the mask of crippling defeat
or shining renaissance
I choose the fire.

Thai Lynne is a stay-at-home mom of three, who works construction part-time with her husband, is pursuing a BA in Creative Writing and a freelance writing career. Her work has appeared in Borrowed Solace Magazine, The Hunger Journal, Twist in Time Magazine, Zimbell House Publishing, Dodging the Rain and elsewhere.

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Beyond the Window

7 June 2022 / Editor

Poetry by Sarah E N Kohrs

Beyond is the light-gray world
poised with clouds that linger
but my eyes settle not on those.
Instead, I see a brown moth flicker
against the screen-less window
where a trillion droplets
settle like stars. Those wings
move in such succession, my
heart seems to speed up, too.
I raise a hand, palm ready
for comforting, providing
relief, hope, even.
But the window doesn’t open
and the rain drips in dirges.

Sarah E N Kohrs is an artist and writer, with over 80 journal publications in poetry and photography. She has a teaching license, endorsed in Latin and Visual Arts, homeschools, and creates with clay in her pottery studio. SENK lives in Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, kindling hope amidst asperity. http://senkohrs.com.