poems

Carol Anne Johnson The silence after stormis never clean—it hums with echoes,splinters of a voiceyou did not choose. You walk through it barefoot,collecting pieces,sometimes cutting yourselfon memories that refuseto dull. But healing does not ask for haste.It is the small, stubborn actof opening curtains to light,of naming the hurt aloud,of breathing despite the heavinesspressing on… Continue reading

Joshua Walker Storm after storm,I place buckets under the drips.The ceiling peels, the floor stains,but still—I catch the rain. Some nights I dance in the leak,bare feet slapping water,like I’m mocking the sky itself:is this all you’ve got? The roof will cave someday—fine.Until then, my buckets are thrones,and I sit crowned by persistence. Joshua Walker… Continue reading

Erica Johnson Frankly, I welcomed the bookas it took me and the sleepyblanket far from the humdrum town. Together we crunched on tacos,before peeling back the skinof a peach with our precarious pens. How were we to knowthat all we would find along the waywas a pack of stickers anda twirly yellow bubble wand“pause and… Continue reading

Kerfe Roig 1Friends arrive in random order,not really invited, yet braidingthemselves into your being untilthey become knots that keepthe chaos from fraying your edges—you reflect and are reflected,an embellished outline containinguniverses that the rest of the worldunsees—all that is your othernessbecomes connected as you bearwitness to each other’s lives 2A friend is a river upon… Continue reading

Sam Hendrian I’m good at being aloneExcept after 6 PMWhen the sun abandons meAnd the moon hides its picky eyes. Suddenly it seems like a crimeNot to be with someone,Not to be held tightDuring the darkest parts of the night. Too early to escape into dreamsSo I manufacture dreams of my ownWith the aid of… Continue reading

Frank Johnson Life’s to be lived so live for todayor carpe diem if your Latin’s OKand don’t lose the will to live or saylife ain’t worth living coz you only live onceand life’s too short, as we’re here todaygone tomorrow and from cradle to graveain’t that long a stay and life is a cabaret,old chum,… Continue reading

R.M. Carlson lead in my bellylead in my heartI sitin thoughts of you realizeI’m afraidof reaching outto you afraid your wordswill bring shamelike a cloudsettling over me did you cheer them on?with their flags and guns?did you laughat those forced to hide? or did shame humble youdisgust youbring you back to realityby their sedition? if… Continue reading

Nicole Sara Black moments bite, they take their shareand leave a sorrowful markBlack moments burn, feeding on air,with flames shaping the dark Black moments blow like fierce winds moaning,unleashing ice through the days…Black moments beat an unyielding tempostifling the magical rays Black moments breathe through smiles and light,turning our eyes from the sunBlack moments breaking… Continue reading

Eileen ‘ike’ West Macrocosm a mess?I micro-dose my close community of loved ones.Distressed for too long, I shut out the shouting, hole up,then scribble and post old-fashioned snail-mail.I grow calm through the writing.Others, too—I’m told—in the reading. Dear friends, I’m finally unpackingthe last boxes and bags,Planting a flag on the mountainside,I mark entry to my… Continue reading

Melissa Lemay maybe i’ve been wrong all this timethe cat lying in the pile of dirty laundryhas it all figured out every time a monarch butterflyflutters by, i breathe in a little magic seeing shapes in clouds remindingme of simpler dayswhy am i awake? i ask myself the years of hurting i have masteredi haven’t… Continue reading