June 2024
On the reading horizon...
Cover photo by author
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How can the heart?
on which everything depends
suddenly begin beating
like John Bonham battering
Moby Dick?
And why does it happen
in the middle of sudden grief—
this crazy stick pick licking
life, life, life
sudden whip-flip
in the middle of sadness?
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Lois Marie Harrod © 2024
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Lois Marie Harrod's 18th collection Spat was published by Finishing Line Press, 2021 and her chapbook Woman by Blue Lyra, 2020. Dodge poet, life-long educator and writer, she is published in literary journals and online ezines from American Poetry Review to Zone 3. She currently teaches college level courses in literature at The Center for Modern Aging, Princeton. More info and links to her online work www.loismarieharrod.org
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Cover by artist Nicole Harp
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54,293 Unsent Messages
Alice of Lemons is bad news for the Pappion.
My aesthetic? Bathrooms covered in collection
letters, doors pried open. Can't make me groove.
Forty years ago, I threw a turtle in the air.
Today, I lean on the edge of sunburn.
What would M do? I'm cold with incisions,
tie-dyed sage, clock wound, implore the inner
dude. Pissin’ rummy, twistin’ sistas on
dancefloors in Ocho Rios lookin’ for open mics
but all I find are mommies makin’ tummies lift.
The salty air is the static of forgiveness,
an eviction notice soaks my pocket.
I’m in a ball on the floor of a hollowed out
Denny’s. I pull my hand back from imagination
to see the end of the world so poorly managed.
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Dana Alan © 2024
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Dana Alan is a Virginia poet, splitting his time between Richmond and Virginia Beach. He teaches high school literature, as well as introductory composition for Tidewater Community College. His work has been published in Mannequin Envy, Shape of a Box, Os Pressan, WHRO's Writer's Block, The Strange Fruit, Veer, The Health Journal, and Better Than Starbucks, among others.
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Cover by JanK
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Taxable Poems
Would you mind checking my tax file?
It’s urgent; I have to file income tax.
Hummm. What is your source of income?
Reading and writing poetry. Oh! sometimes
I recite too. Will it be taxable? Let me check
Your annual poems. Well, you have some rotten source
Of words, excavated old verses that are defunct
And taxable.
You better be original. By writing, you are
boring and pissing off people, that’s not commendable.
However, I would advise you to keep your poems to
Yourself, it will help to keep your rotten assets for
Your well-being too.
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Pulkita Anand © 2024
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Pulkita Anand is an avid reader of poetry and loves to absorb life to the fullest. She has translated one short story collection, 'Tribal Tales,' from Jhabua. Author of two children’s e-books, her recent eco-poetry collection is 'we were not born to be erased'. Various journal publications include: Setu Journal, Indian Periodical, Shortstory Kids,The Criterion, Twist and Twain, Tint Journal, Lite Lit One, Indian Ruminations, Langlit, Ashvamegha, Lapis Lazuli, Conifer Call, and The Creativity Webzine. A featured poet in Mad Women in the Attic and poeticreveries, she read her poems at West Chester University Pennsylvania (USA), Gail India, Ireland, LSU Mardi Gras, University of Vienna and others.
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Cover photo by Alex Stolis (by permission)
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Ode to Hollows
for Alex
your low lumbar spine, where
libido pools, swirls, curls into waves
your pelvis,
parallel serendipity
your belly and chest
the chiseled ladder I climb
to bicep mounds and valleys
the plateau of shoulders
your neck tunneling
to chin, parted lips
eyes darkened in the
eclipse of surrender
nostrils that flare
when I push you down
to our bed, scale
the landscape of you
and we kiss, filling
all the hollows in me.
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Catherine Arra © 2024
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Catherine Arra is a native of the Hudson Valley in upstate New York, where she lives with wildlife and changing seasons until winter, when she migrates to the Space Coast of Florida. Her poetry and prose have appeared in numerous literary journals, both online and in print and in anthologies. She is the author of four full-length collections and four chapbooks. A former high school English and writing teacher, Arra now teaches part-time and facilitates local writing groups. Find her at www.catherinearra.com
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May 2024
Cover by JanK
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Aphrodite
Aphrodite was her name.
She was a burning flame.
She was a sexy goddess.
Seductive was her dress.
But since she wasn’t mortal,
she was not fair game to all.
She was truly a god’s booty,
such an untouchable beauty.
She was the goddess of love
whom men only dream of.
But to her they could pray
for some help in some way.
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Anthony Voglino © 2024
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Anthony Voglino is a graduate of Boston University, where he received a BA in philosophy. Although he is a manager for a company that sells medical gases in New Jersey, he has a passion for artistic endeavors and spends a great deal of time writing. In particular, he enjoys writing ancient Greek historical fiction.
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Jennifer Ann Dennehy - Spring stayed late
Cover art by Lyla Wren Wilson
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Spring stayed late and turned a cold shoulder
on the night shades. Black krim tomatoes, ping
tung eggplant and mosco peppers left stunted
and shivering on damp evenings. They get all
the love most years anyhow.
I root for more quiet others -the discounted
johnathon apple trees. We may never taste
their fruit but they are the hope for shade
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Jennifer Ann Dennehy © 2024
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Jennifer Ann Dennehy lives in Colorado with her family, cats, great horned owls, and the occasional fox. She spends a bit of time re-creating lawns as prairies and routing for migrating birds.
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Katie Grace Nelson - The Constellations of Life
Katie Grace Nelson has an Associates of Arts degree from Volunteer State Community college. Currently she is working towards a Bachelor's degree in English from Tennessee Technological University. "Poetry is my genre of choice." she writes, 'because I feel it is where I can draw my deepest feelings."
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C.T. Holte - Wet chairs on the deck
Cover by JanK
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Citrus Sonnet
I drink the cold water
with one lemon seed
at the bottom of the glass,
sipping slowly so that
I don't swallow the seed
and get a tree growing
in my stomach
as my mother warned me.
There was ice, and gin,
and lemon juice to begin with,
but it is late now
and the good stuff is gone.
I wonder again
why limes have no seeds.
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C.T. Holte © 2024
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C.T. Holte grew up in Minnesota without color TV; has had gigs as teacher, editor, and less wordy things; recently moved from California to New Mexico with his beautiful partner; and got a cool chain saw for Christmas. His poems have been published in Words, California Quarterly, Shark Reef, Pensive, The Daily Drunk, Mediterranean Poetry, and elsewhere.
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Charlene Neely - Relatively Speaking
Cover Family Photo collage for Grandma's 90th birthday
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Great Aunt Mae’s Bicycle
I’m biking to Florida, never mind
that it’s a mere 1,400 miles one way.
My map shows it’s downhill all the way.
I’m going to wear my sunshine yellow dress
(In fact, I bought five, each one is the same,
billowy skirt to float around my legs,
a deep ruffle around the square neckline.)
My bike, the purple of a lilac bush,
is a hand-me-down from my Great Aunt Mae.
She swears it will not break down on the way
(and nobody can swear like Great Aunt Mae).
She threatened it with curses known only
to drunken sailors and wart-nosed witches,
thus insuring my safety on my way.
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Charlene Neely © 2024
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Charlene Neely was born and raised in Lincoln, Nebraska. Then spent about 20 years living in the small towns of Geneva, Beatrice, Syracuse, and Sterling in Nebraska and Oakland, Iowa. She now makes Lincoln her home. Her book The Lights of Lincoln, chronicling the public art project Illuminating Lincoln, was published by Infusion Media, The Corn Fairy’s Wigs & Other Poems was published by Local Gems Poetry Press. She co-edited The Guide to More Nebraska Authors with Gerry Cox. Also, she has three microchaps: Soup Dreams, Lessons Learned, and My Life in a Zip from Origami Poems Project.
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Sophia Conway - crumbs & constellations: a haiku story
Cover by Evie S from Unsplash
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I.
the woven bamboo
bed frame of a love
stitched together
II.
weight of my
world on a driftwood bench
the baby kicks
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Sophia Conway © 2024
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Sophia Conway is an Irish storyteller and poet residing on Vancouver Island, Canada, with her husband and son. Her poetry has been published in several journals and anthologies, and she enjoys sharing her love of poetry through spoken-word performances, poetry film festivals, and workshops. Her work is inspired by nature, the human experience, and her faith.
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Barbara Anna Gaiardoni - Eating Haiku
Cover: 'Weave' by Andrea Vanacore (andreavanacore.it)
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summer rain
speaking of photogenic
pioggia estiva
parlando di fotogenia
worm moon
listless dream
luna del verme
sogno svogliato
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Barbara Anna Gaiadoni © 2024
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Barbara Anna Gaiardoni &
Andrea Vanacore alias gaia & vana are finalists of the Edinburgh “Writings Leith” contest. Barbara earned her spot on the Haiku Euro Top 100 list for 2023 and on The Mainichi’s Haiku in English Best 2023. Her Japanese-style poems has published in 145 international journals. Andrea's video and photographic works encompass his performative approach toward reality that he puts in dialogue through his investigation. His long professional experience was able to give concrete form to his passion, in the name of a kaleidoscopic and versatile art without predetermined boundaries. They are life partners in Verona City (Italy).
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April 2024
Cover art, ‘’Night Visitor” by author
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II.
For the first time in
these many nights, through a tear
in the clouds I see
stars – the horns & the
Pleiades of Taurus, red-
orange Mars looming
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Lorraine Caputo © 2024
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Lorraine Caputo is a documentary poet, translator and travel writer. Her works appear in over 400 journals on six continents; and 23 collections of poetry – including In the Jaguar Valley (dancing girl press, 2023) and Endless Rains (Origami Poems Project, 2023). She also authors travel narratives, articles and guidebooks. Her writing has been honored by the Parliamentary Poet Laureate of Canada (2011), and nominated for the Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize. Caputo has done literary readings from Alaska to the Patagonia. She journeys through Latin America, listening to the voices of the pueblos and Earth.
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Cover: From Villa & Rose Mini Artworks on Pinterest
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Courting Eagles
A pair of bald eagles yin & yang
the early evening blue, a cluster
of clouds heaping the background
behind the doubled-over daub
of a half winking moon. They spiral
like two excited galaxies, never
colliding, just courting, rising,
blurring into the hint of heavens.
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Matthew James Friday © 2024
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Matthew James Friday is a British born writer and teacher. He has had many poems published in US and international journals. His first chapbook ‘The Residents’ is due to be published by Finishing Line Press in summer 2024. He has published numerous micro-chapbooks with the Origami Poems Project. Poems are forthcoming in The Potomac Review, Weber - The Contemporary West Review and The Amsterdam Quarterly (NL). Matthew is a Pushcart Prize nominated poet. Visit his website at
http://matthewfriday.weebly.com
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Cover collage by Jan Keough
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lapiz lazuli ...
bluebird
in the garden
after the rain
blades of grass
covered with diamonds
two rock doves
on the concrete Causeway
amethysts on a gray cloud
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Jane Beal © 2024
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Jane Beal, Ph.D., is a poet. Her haiku appear in the Asahi Haikuist, Fireflies’ Light, Frogpond, Haibun Today, Haiku Journal, Illinois Audubon Society Magazine and Presence as well as in her haiku micro-chaps from Origami Poems: Journey, Garden, Bliss, Wide Awake and Dreaming, and In the Santa Cruz Mountains. She is the author of many other poetry collections, including a book of haiku, Haiku Birding, and a book of haibun, Wild Birdsong (2011) and a book of haiga, Tidepools. To learn more about her and her creative work, please see
https://janebeal.wordpress.com
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March 2024
Cover: Author's painting, 'The Meadow of Hope'
Each flower represents a neurological disease
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I Dream in Color
I woke up in inky darkness.
I had become blind,
devoid of color.
But my dreams
are alive with color.
I dream
in vivid and vibrant hues
of deep greens and blues
crimson and violets
yellows and oranges.
The colors are alive.
They drive my dreams
into swirls of pinks and purples,
curling around each image I see.
I thrive in the colors.
No black. No white.
Everything my mind touches
in my dreams
is in color.
The colors are wild-
bright lights and neons.
My mind cannot see blindness.
It can only see colors.
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Beth Fournier 2024
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Beth Fournier is a native of Massachusetts and a former high school counselor. At the age of twenty-six she was suddenly stricken and diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a severe neurological condition. This left her paralyzed and blind. She now lives in a long-term care facility in Dorchester, Massachusetts. She enjoys audiobooks, painting, and singing. Music and the memory of sunflowers lift her spirits.
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Cover by Jerome Berglund
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distant shore —
gather on beach squinting,
signal with mirrors
trampled grass
past the ghosts
of lions
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Jerome Berglund © 2024
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Jerome Berglund has published many haiku, haiga and haibun, most recently in bottle rockets, Frogpond, and Modern Haiku. His first full-length collections Bathtub Poems and Funny Pages were just released by Setu and Meat For Tea press. Micro-chapbooks of his can be downloaded from the Origami Poems Project and a mixed media eBook showcasing his fine art photography is available now from Yavanika.
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Cover from ‘beutefullplacee’
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Whatever I See Knows Joy
“The fullness of Joy is to behold God in everything.”
What part of the earth, sky, air
does not contain the essence of creation?
None.
Whatever I see knows joy of being created.
All I know makes me sing praises.
When I hold back singing, I am denying my awe,
my reason for waking up.
Why wouldn’t I want to share my praise everywhere?
No reason.
None.
This morning-song will echo
fullness of Joy to behold in God
in everything
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Martin Willitts Jr. © 2024
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Martin Willitts, Jr., a frequently published Origami Poetry Project poet, has over 20 full-length collections of poetry. He has four books released in 2023, “Not Only the Extraordinary are Exiting the Dream World” (Flowstone Press, 2023); “Ethereal Flowers” (Still Point Press, 2023); “Rain Followed Me Home” (Glass Lyre Press, 2023); “Leaving Nothing Behind” (Fernwood Press, 2023).
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Julian of Norwich was a 14th-century English mystic who wrote the first book in English by a woman, Revelations of Divine Love, about her visions of God's love.
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Cover photo: Kanawa County, WV center
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Black Maple
I used to think this black tree
were diseased,
as if a fungus had taken hold
in the creases of its bark—
anomy, growing midst other trees.
So I thought.
Texture stands out,
blackened as natural as noon sun.
You can see it fifty yards away
growing in the green wall of summer,
what once appeared dead
lives now, even more, through me.
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John Robinson © 2024
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John Robinson is a mainstream, American poet from the Kanawha Valley in Mason County, West Virginia. His 165 literary works have appeared in 115 journals throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, India, Poland, Germany and China. He is also a published printmaker with 101 art images and photographs appearing in forty journals, electronic and print, in the United States, Italy, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Recent Work; Pennsylvania English, Xavier Review, North Dakota Quarterly. Talking River Review, Revolution John and Language, and Semiotic Studies.
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Cover: Mandala photo taken by author
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Stretching Into Awareness
Sometimes, at the end of the class,
my teacher says, “Look what your body
let you to do,” and I realize that my body
lets me do all kinds of things—relax
in lizard pose, take long walks,
push a sled, do bicep curls, put sheets
on my bed, pick up dozens of limbs.
My body is old, my body is small,
my body hurts. But it lets me
roll out a mat and take it to a place
of possibility, where my mind—
an ill-behaved, unwelcome guest—
is not allowed entry.
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Diane Elayne Dees © 2024
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Diane Elayne Dees is the author of the chapbooks, Coronary Truth (Kelsay Books), The Last Time I Saw You (Finishing Line Press), and The Wild Parrots of Marigny (Querencia Press). Diane, who lives in Covington, Louisiana, also publishes Women Who Serve, a blog that delivers news and commentary on women’s professional tennis throughout the world. Her author blog is Diane Elayne Dees: Poet and Writer-at-Large.
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Cover from web
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Dad and Charlie.
They plan the place
the hour. One o’clock.
Rib joint on Northern Lights Avenue.
Maybe Charlie pays.
Maybe they get some
extra ribs and sauce to go.
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Ronda Piszk Broatch © 2024
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Ronda Piszk Broatch is the author of Chaos Theory for Beginners (Moonpath Press, 2023), Finalist for the Sally Albiso Prize, and Lake of Fallen Constellations, (Moonpath Press). She is the recipient of an Artist Trust Gap Grant. Ronda's journal publications include Greensboro Review, Blackbird, Sycamore Review, Missouri Review, Palette Poetry, Moon City Review, and NPR News / Kuow's All Things Considered. She is a graduate student working toward her MFA at Pacific Lutheran University's Rainier Writing Workshop.
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February 2024
