Poet’s Corner: Island Roads
Island Roads
By Jeffrey Agnoli
Beamers, rovers
beaters, dreamers
twenty-first century
machines roam the roads
across this piece of radiance
amidst the Atlantic.
Paths once traversed
by much earlier humans
nobler and saner
walking in lines
of earth energy
the Mother laid out
before time.
Multidimensional
roads that still remain
offering...
Poet’s Corner: Times of conflict
Times of conflict
By Cecily Bryant
I think such hard times tend to
draw the succor from the breadth of souls
Spread from those with everything
to those with nothing
For what human being can not imagine the
bleeding of a...
Poet’s Corner: I hear America crying
I hear America crying
By Valerie Sonnenthal
I hear America crying
tears that cannot be wiped
away on television screens
monitors emphasize
what is magnified
lies on display
like a hit parade
who can top this
does anything matter
anymore anything
not death or deploy
let others...
Poet’s Corner: Writing Workshop
Writing Workshop
By Beki Test
they say the moon doesn’t belong in a poem
you have written The moon is sometimes male
no one knows what you mean
its grad school and everyone feels superior
they roll their eyes and...
Poet’s Corner: Mr. Bumblebee and Me
Mr. Bumblebee and Me
By Liz Splittgerber
I had a happy visit
Of the most unusual kind —
A bee came to my house today
And that I didn't mind
He was quiet, he was sad
I didn't ask him why
I...
Poet’s Corner: Moving Day
Moving Day
By Cecily Bryant
Measuring the now empty rooms
to see if the next rooms we inhabit will
accommodate this prior life’s comforts
Sweeping the dusty floors and the odd bits
of living inevitably appear
Tinsel from a long-ago Christmas...
Poet’s Corner: trouble
trouble
By Michael Oliveira
my ocd me
requests you put it back where
you know it belongs
by that i imply
in exactly the same spot
facing the same way
cause if you don't
it could trouble me all night
that i would not...
Poets Corner: May 1968: Lambert’s Cove
May 1968: Lambert’s Cove
By Leroy Hazelton
The sea is hidden
At the end of worn grey planks,
So life gently rises
In the scent of ocean
As you close your eyes
Smiling
And drift past original destinations,
Out on the fragile nerve
Where...
Poet’s Corner: ‘Experiment’
Experiment
By Valerie Sonnenthal
a hazy night sky
mutes blinking red lights
etched into the horizon
silent lambs sleep
in a heap of sheep
under a beetlebung tree
dogs lie in wait
curled across limbs
breathe as one
sand in every pocket
stuck in creases
soles to...
Poet’s Corner: ‘Shadbush Signals’
Shadbush Signals
By Jeffrey Agnoli
Shadbush trees of all sizes
bloom along the roads
and through the mostly leafless woods
signaling with sprays of white
the return of the green wave
whose renewing life
will soothe wintered eyes
lift conflicted hearts
and transform inner...
Poet’s Corner: ‘Wild Hearts’
Wild Hearts
By Cecily Bryant
I tend to gravitate to the wilder hearts
Those whose childhoods still shine through
the corners of their eyes
The tangled bittersweet and wind-seeded
flowers draw us more assuredly than do
other riches
Foremost are memories of...
Poet’s Corner: ‘Next Door’
Next Door
By Valerie Sonnenthal
Lamb heaven’s hoppin’ only two days old
little peeps baaas and a shove over from mama
ten little lambs a lookin’ this way and that
damp freeze of spring crocuses forsythia snowdrops
and lambs whiter...
Poet’s Corner: ‘Ocean Eve’
Ocean Eve
By John F. Kriscenski
Waves crash against a silent shore.
Surrounded by barnacles, water, and wind-beaten rocks.
A sky of blue falls
like watery paints
upon a smooth canvas
then recedes so quietly.
A calm — birds screech in the...
Poet’s Corner: ‘A Very Good Example’
A Very Good Example
By Sarah Joyce
On the bottom of boredom lies the same playlist on a loop
and in the isolation of perpetual questioning
is an avoidance of Spring’s stillness.
March here is my mother
calling, telling me...
Poet’s Corner: ‘The Start of Spring’
The Start of Spring
By Liz Splittgerber
Sweet birdsong begun
Music to my ears
Sky seems much bluer
Creeping phlox appears
Dry garden yearns for
Soaking April rains
Warmer sun rises higher
As sharp cold wind wanes
Green shoots speak boldly
Of greener things
The promise...
Poet’s Corner: ‘Irish Music at the Black Dog Cafe’
Irish Music at the Black Dog Cafe
By Christine G. Burke
The boy so clearly
the child of the man
same voice same posture
the man’s ease familiar
the boy’s studied, effortful
each on their bar stools
some thirty years
separating them
and yet...
Poet’s Corner: Michael Oliveira
By Michael Oliveira
when that red headed
woodpecker returns between
4 and 6 am daily
to thrum out a staccato beat
on the metal gutter
outside my bedroom to inform
the local ladies
of his availability
for a round of
avian misbehavian
Michael Oliveira has...
Poet’s Corner: ‘The Lady at the Dumptique’
The Lady at the Dumptique
By Leroy Hazelton
Once she prayed for this
Bottom of a butter dish,
Chipped of course,
That would almost fit the top
Her grandmother gave her long ago,
Saying to her,
“You’ll know when the bottom finds...
Poet’s Corner: ‘in March, before we leave’
in March, before we leave
By Susan Puciul
1.
winter night in the yard
the moon’s room
her rise welling up through
black lace of oak and beech
seize of crystal
on forest ground
mirrors the stern shine
of starry eyes above
same as knew...
Poet’s Corner: ‘Things to Come’
Things to Come
By Cecily Bryant
Day dawns under sullen shelf clouds
A promise of a cold rain
A day for making soups and calling friends
I am grateful for the colors of carrots and savory greens
I am warmed...