JEFF BURT ~ COYOTE TRUTHS

COYOTE TRUTHS Beauty What is it like, I ask Coyote, to wander in fields of lupine and poppies that dot the dry fields, to never walk a straight line and yet brush against glory? All day I starve and all night I roam, Coyote says. Beauty is to wander through an unwoven fence. Fear What […]

WINNING POEMS FROM THE 3rd ANNUAL KAREN TRUJILLO TEEN POETRY CONTEST ~ LAS CRUCES, NM ~2024

HONORABLE MENTION – Michael Taylor Utah GirlsI wanna be more disciplined and responsiblePissing off a mountain into a riverYour watermelon can’t believe, approve, or understand your behavior and he is very upsetGrumpy man with with a tan, sitting in a lawn chair in a blizzard, Coca-Cola in hand, upsidedown, drinking his magazineMy teacher told me […]

Natasha Deonarain ~ BITTER COFFEE

bitter coffee so she’s standing there— in vaulted two-storey morning light Bratz Doll Angel engulfed by Redemption coffee shop’s bustling glory ass as tight as a peach the contour of her muscled thighsshowcased by a definite size six boot-cut black yoga pants draped over platform Docs topped with a brightly-colored cap-sleeve and she’s me with […]

Jennifer Choi ~ Cantata

Cantata some laughed, some wept,most stayed silent.i must hold my posture,face the onlookers with steady eyes.many hide behind their newspapers,a few pull out handkerchiefs.i lock my stance, toes gripping the ground.a boy with a black bag stares, unblinking—i almost dropped the bird.from my chest / a crimson bird emerges / we are told not to […]

Michael Lee Johnson ~ Old Fiddle Man

Old Fiddle Man Old daddy man playing fiddle man in a family youth band. He was the star. Crowds paid & rushed through that door, dancing clapping to hear a few slim notes for just transitory seconds a few brief notes only realizing the ephemeral rhythm man before he died. Dance, dance, dance, fiddle man […]

Robert Beckvall ~ With a Partner Like You

With a Partner Like You I could win some championships in Tucson, Honolulu, and PhoenixWe could get married and have a baby and eat some noodlesWe could doctor and teach and sell houses and preach with the HubbardsWe could coach and throw a wet sponge at a roachWe could eat dimsum and have some funHeck, […]

jacquelyn shah ~ baffling

Baffling As a would-be baffler, I’m engaged in creating something fool-proof. But there’s such a wide variety of fools that I don’t know how to baffle them all. Fools come in many stripes and furs, demonstrate a myriad of facets, advocate a host of harebrained actions, override some basic setups, and dare to wreck whatever’s […]

Karen Schauber ~ Elon, Extraterrestrial

Elon, Extraterrestrial Elon has reverse engineered our trajectory. To mars. A dreamer and futurist who thinks out of the box, he’s clearly well ahead of his time. And ours. There is no comparison. In light of the 8.2 billion people now on this planet, his campaign to personally proffer seed to repopulate the world has […]

Lucie Chou ~ i want a requiem by a requiem for

i want a requiem by a requiem for (birdfolk in the Xingqinggong Park and elsewhere) sparrows and brownie song thrushes moiling rustling blades panicles scattered tree nuts fallen leaves taking death with such light heart they have gone live again flickering flames like acorns and filberts fed by sun-eating leaves they’ve made themselves plump as […]

Michael Ashley ~ Holed up in a filthy duvet

Holed up in a filthy duvet tightly bundled upwith the TV mutedscrolling YouTube shortstrying to escape the shameof not being able to remember getting homehow do you purge itis it enough to sweat it outmaybe I should go sit in a boxand tell the Fatherfingers grasping at the rosariesdirty words reverberating fromthe walnut panelling or perhaps […]

Cacti Fur

a poetry high ground