3 lost poems by TIM STALEY

THE TAKE OUT I paddle the kayaks back to the boathouse. First the sea yak with it’s great tracking Then the little yellow one for children And finally the two small blue ones Good for racing because they’re equally handicapped. Now the sailboat’s just a dingly, I lost the sail when i capsized. I swim […]

Soldiering through an internal war ~ Bob McNeil

Soldiering through an internal war Helpless in a hospital, While laid out like a cadaver, My thoughts are mercurial. Petitioning for health is my endeavor. Although zeroed on my pain, I look at the TV news, Feeling levels of disdain And guilt for writing the blues. Some people in war-torn lands remain strong. Undaunted, they’re […]

SIJRA ~ L’APPEL DU VIDE

L’appel Du Vide ~ Call of the Void What’s a boy to a star who gazes from afar?But a boy lost in reverie, knowing he was bound to be from the start?L’appel du vide.I can be condescending just to feel like I’m ascendingbut still feel like a decline, is the message sending?L’appel du vide.If my […]

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 […]

Matt Thomas ~ COW CREEK

Cow Creek What we called a crick,no wider than a standing leapone side to the other,a rat snake stretched in pasture sun,kinks shear as paper cuts wherethe water fought to go straight.We flipped cow pattieswith pocket knivesfor worms that writhedon hooks bouncedwith a neat underhandfrom grass into the waterupstream from a bend, floatedto where we […]

5 POEMS ~ DIANE WEBSTER

FEATHER LIGHT A feather lieslighton its reflectionon the pond;conjoined twinsfloatingin unison. ~ ROYAL FOREST On forest meadowautumn leavesfallenlike royal subjectsbowingbefore kingand queen. ~ DESCENDING VERTIGO Fog and pondconsumedescendingfence postsin a silentfloodof grayvertigo. ~ CLOVER RHYTHM Patrons at a concert —clover heads bobin rhythm with the musicvibrating from the radiountil the song ends…They continuein mute appreciationof […]

Jeffrey Zable ~ THE LESSON

When Denis pulled the lever on the firebox in front of the school on a Saturday afternoon, and we hid in the bushes up the street watching the firemen get out of the truck, look around the front of the school, and then get back into the truck and drive away, I didn’t know that […]

BOB MCNEIL – Metered Billing

Metered Billing Even the moon rues its union with the Earth. Inch by inch, at the rate of a fingernail’s growth, it’s creating ways to glide away the same way we would when someone sneezes around our space. But can you find that object’s decision objectionable? It gave us turning tides, romantic nights, mythos, poems, […]

POETRY: LET THE GROUND BREATHE WITH YOU – Jennifer Lothrigel

Let The Ground Breathe With You

Let the ground breathe with you,
not in opposition.

On my morning run
I pass by two elderly women
walking with their canes.
Scent of timeless roses.

Let the ground breathe with you,
not in opposition.

Dew drops line the center of aloe leaves,
the sweat on my unwashed morning skin,
has collected in the center of my chest−
still heavy with last night’s dreams;
I searched all night through alternative realities
for my drunk husband.Let the ground breathe with you.
not in opposition.

A man walks by with his dog,
pants under his breath
“It’s harder uphill, isn’t it.”

–

Visit Jennifer Lothrigel online.

Cacti Fur

a poetry high ground

poem