Getting Something Read

After the Disaster

D.S. — Sat, 26 May 2012 18:58:24 +0000

by Fred Longworth Do not try to save the day. Allow it to slide off the edge of the earth and into the gutters below the horizon. Let the maintenance crew sweep it into baskets and burn it with dead leaves. Later, as the workmen hasten westward, following the debris of other sunsets, hail them. [...]

Winter Haiku

Neal Whitman — Wed, 23 May 2012 18:27:10 +0000

by Neal Whitman short day winter walk– fog settles across the bay cutting trees in half Neal Whitman is a member of the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society of San Jose and the Haiku Poets of Northern California. Though contemporaries vary the syllable count, Neal likes to stick to the traditional 5-7-5 structure and to use [...]

If on a Winter’s Night a Patient (Cherita Sequence)

D.S. — Sun, 20 May 2012 17:25:18 +0000

by Chen-ou Liu time stands still on the old clock above the counter in the ER I wait patiently for my turn walking out the door casting no glances we pass each other by then disappear snow traces the weight of each burden

Autumn Haiku

Neal Whitman — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:08:49 +0000

by Neal Whitman I lay awake cold. My left thumb rests on my chin below chestnut moon. Neal Whitman is a member of the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society of San Jose and the Haiku Poets of Northern California. Though contemporaries vary the syllable count, he likes to stick to the traditional Japanese 5-7-5 structure. Kingyo [...]

Three Short Poems

D.S. — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:33:25 +0000

by Martha Christina Memorial Day Two starlings glide from my roof to my neighbors’. The sudden breeze of their wings just enough to stir the flag. Shaking Hands grasp, clasp, tentative press, the faintest whisper of cuff to skin. Hello, the mouth says, I’m so glad to meet you. But the eyes say Not here, [...]

Conversation with a Muse

D.S. — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:33:25 +0000

by Kristine Remick The storm driven darkness pulled shadow onto surfaces where the contrasts turned them to art. Ordinary things cast spectral gray shapes on the luncheonette’s friction worn Formica and scratched country patterns. Salt. Pepper. Chrome napkin holder. Thunder rattled the diner as the storm built outside. “What if I did?” The hooded woman [...]

Opus at Fifty

Joseph Milosch — Fri, 11 May 2012 14:40:58 +0000

By Joseph Milosch I dreamed I was running in a field with a girl dressed in light shorts. Her tanned legs flickered and our feet flashed faster than echoes of falling footsteps as flies became fireworks, imitating centuries of supernovas. I dreamed we were running in a field without any flowers or clover blossoms. We [...]

Revision

Paul Hostovsky — Fri, 11 May 2012 14:40:58 +0000

by Paul Hostovsky There used to be a live chicken in this poem, there was a glacier and a sailboat, the Pacific Ocean sloshing between stanzas, and me like Adam saying, Here am I, to God who was also near.

Untitled Palindrome

Michael Constantine McConnell — Tue, 08 May 2012 13:41:27 +0000

by Michael Constantine McConnell Dog-bard, a wall arose. Soon, a red, nude man-era stole Gail of deli, and, lo, my tit-net carts bade, trap millions’ parts, but a snag rose many fits, and I’d reward no cabs. Eve[n] Eve’s bacon drawer did nastify names, organs, a tub, straps. No ill-imparted, abstract-entity mold nailed foliage. Lots [...]

Solitary Reaper

Paul Hostovsky — Sat, 05 May 2012 10:41:21 +0000

by Paul Hostovsky I am writing on the bathroom wall at the summer writers’ conference where all of the poets are sitting around in their little tranquil groups circle jerking in my imagination: the blue- haired lady with her notebook spilling in her lap, the English teacher with his muscular sensibility, the diffident housewife, musty [...]

Another Dream Of You As A Lifeguard

D.S. — Wed, 02 May 2012 09:49:16 +0000

by Martha Christina We’re in water up to our armpits and I’m afraid of going under. But when you put your hand on the small of my back, what can I do but float? Blogged with the Flock Browser

Who Gets the Last Laugh?

Neal Whitman — Tue, 01 May 2012 04:54:39 +0000

by Neal Whitman, Poetry Prof Last month we celebrated April Fools’ Day with a tribute to the “Ern Malley” hoax. To recap: two poets, James McAuley and Harold Stewart, published poems they concocted under the name of Ern Malley. I learned of this gag when I decided to fill in a gap in my home [...]

The Gust of Wind

Joseph Milosch — Tue, 01 May 2012 00:37:48 +0000

by JosephMilosch Spring rose clean as birches during my last leap year home. For the past ten years, I spent winter afternoons on this lake. Soon I’d be the first to graduate, but this evening I skated with my hockey stick and some primitive rhythm composed for blade and tin. I shot the puck, an [...]

Autumn Haiku, 2010

Neal Whitman — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 09:41:26 +0000

by Neal Whitman Autumn is a time to harvest pumpkins. How about a U.S. harvest of 1.5 billion pounds! Two hours north of me up California’s Highway One is a lovely coastal town, Half Moon Bay, home to the World Pumpkin Festival — its 40th will be held October 16 – 18. We kick off the season [...]

Epigram

D.S. — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 07:23:09 +0000

by George Held Some editors favor what’s adorned And request me to expand a verse; Some prefer terse And want no more. Click to listen: mp3

We are betrayed

D.S. — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 07:23:09 +0000

by Dretta Grace White We are betrayed By the beating Of our hearts We are betrayed By parted lips And whispered words We are betrayed If only we had known If only we had known That to birds Flight Is also The bitterness of fleeing

Facere

D.S. — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 06:27:19 +0000

by D. A. Trueman In my hat I smell last night- events that cannot exist, but in my hat I smell last night just inside the brim

Sparrows Dreams

D.S. — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 05:09:14 +0000

by Salvatore Buttaci Sparrows shivering in February cold dream of early spring when they can fly and trill their songs like thank-you hymns to their God, and Delight in the Warmth of soft nests, but for now they shiver.

Work

Paul Hostovsky — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 04:39:22 +0000

by Paul Hostovsky Someone has left an orange pylon here. I look around but there’s no work going on here, only this sign of work. Maybe it’s a sign that work needs to go on here. I look for the bump or the hole. But there’s nothing. Maybe it fell off a truck on its way [...]

Snow-Birds Settling

D.S. — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 03:13:04 +0000

by Dretta Grace White Snow-Birds settling Made all the difference She thought of their Settling And of the light they gave And became in her way As grey As they snow-bird

The Houses You See from the Highway

Paul Hostovsky — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 02:19:42 +0000

by Paul Hostovsky It’s easy to love them, the shapes of those lives, the little huddled triangles holding each other up on the way into the city, or the ones in the country leaning only on themselves and a silo, head in an elbow on a hill. How beautiful the detached view, how forgivable all [...]

Tintinnabular *

D.S. — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 01:46:35 +0000

by John Ian Marshall Within these fields of intertwined grasses, A smile, study of outstretched hands, dancing, Dancing in a simpler past, blues tunes play on A tiny, tinny radio, everywhere the kind of bliss Which only occurs in dreams, spiraling, spinning, The best of which we are awake in. Splayed Fingers trace the tall [...]

After the Rain

D.S. — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 01:09:38 +0000

by Lucille Gang Shulklapper Into their thin-walled shells the snails struggle, away from juicy leaves, spray dripping with poison. Watching them inch towards death, gray in the sun, worm-like on stone pavers, the leaves forgive themselves.

Stash’s Letter to His Lost Child

Joseph Milosch — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 13:17:55 +0000

by Joseph Milosch When I was in the army, I met a woman and went A.W.O.L. My friends found me. It wasn’t hard. I was drinking. It could of been that I was in the same bar that they left me in. It could of been that I was at her home. They found me [...]

New Year Haiku

Neal Whitman — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 00:12:21 +0000

by Neal Whitman first dream of New Year– five ships at rest on cradles came ashore last night Neal Whitman is a member of the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society of San Jose and the Haiku Poets of Northern California. Neal provides us with five seasonal haiku a year; in the Japanese tradition, New Year is [...]