Gary Fincke: Selflessness
In the animal kingdom, among fish,
one father carries all of the laid eggs
in his mouth, sixty-five day starvation
to make that flexible, deep mouth a womb.
Rebecca Weiner Tompkins: Mayday, Mayday
The white rain of petals that fell for a week is done.
What catches now in my hair
are the dried blossoms of the Callery Pear,
startling and crackly, as they float and scatter
Fred Everett Maus: Yellow
In the days after, we did not weep in each other’s
presence, nor hold each other, nor say much
about our feelings. It was how we had always been.
Pauletta Hansel: The Stepmother’s Lament
Tell me,
what am I
supposed to do
with all this love?
Jose Padua: I Am a Small Guitar
I am a small guitar in a large room on a Saturday
sometime after four when the last lunch guest
has driven home, beating the rain…
Video: “Hope” by Emily Dickinson | A Film by Robert Isenberg
“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –
Sally Bliumis-Dunn: Ode to Autumn
this is where I can
still see you
in these gray branches
Zachary Guadamour: Ciénaca
I ride lazy atop the mule Toby
as he unravels a deer path we follow
not knowing where we head
the morning crisp in the cloudless warming sky
Laure-Anne Bosselaar: Godwit Beach
Remember? It was late in the afternoon,
we walked a while along these limestone cliffs,
under the silver ghosts of eucalyptus trees.
Michelle Bitting: Pandemic Mask Sonnet
The world’s gone mad at the wheel
While bees and seas soar for bloom, germs and chaos
Straining against reorder.
Michael Simms: The Door
The first time I saw him
he was a beautiful Irish boy,
an extra in a Synge play…
Michael T. Young: Reflections on Richard Hugo’s Poetry
I believed the necessity
of that suffering world, hoping it would learn not to do
it again. But I was young. The world never learns.
Aidan Rooney: Reliquary (after Ida Faubert)
Here, in a small rosewood box
lined with silver satin,
your locket still attached
to a closed gold chain.
