Tim Gardiner pale blue confetti smothering yellow primroses swept away by the wind the joy of a spring wedding so quickly forgotten

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Jay Cates the light behind you was too bright, your face was dark, the sun would not set. you and I burned less brightly parting under moon and stars

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

B.T Joy I feel for women in 8th century Japan. How lonely it was to believe a laurel grew on the surface of the moon.

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Jesus Chameleon summer survives me hardly with love from frond walls, love woven by hand--- by daylight I am profound, by nightlight confounded still

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Robert Penven screaming winds and rain shake the fragile window glass we hook the shutters waiting for the sky to crash then silence brings the rainbow

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Robert Penven she sweeps the water raising her hand to the sun drops glisten like gold tears now falling from her eyes tell us life's currents run deep

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Robert Penven with loves tenderness a hand touches a woman the noble writer creator of prose and verse now holds a cherry blossom

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

William Burkholder The breath of Autumn Summer skies weep for umber Cold hand of Winter South bound cormorant fleeing Nests abandoned until Spring

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Jackie Maugh Robinson First Letter your songs draw me to you I know your heart- my eyes on yours waiting breathlessly for more Reply Letter jasmine in your hair love lights your dark eyes you answer my songs- our voices and the moon this sweet poetry of love

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Mickey Murphy A stolen moment Fingers entwine, eyes glance up Two kites crossing paths Harnessing our breathlessness Towards their entanglement.

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Marieta Maglas Love winds in my life, In my mind to weave sweet dreams, Which don't wither off, But take me to the sheer bliss, Whether there is hope or not.

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Christa Planko Crimson and gold tones bedazzled the jeweled trees, adorned for harvest -- Hoping to reap love's bounty, I faced stark, chill emptiness.

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Grace Hughes Chappell we went to the woods on our anniversary-- forty-seven years-- no roof no altar this time rain dripped on us through the trees

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Grace Hughes Chappell the lake was secret its darkening noontime blue-- swim for it you said the other side beckoning wrapping us up together

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Grace Hughes Chappell your kiss tastes of salt the sea's juicy oysters, too small pearls of surprise– an undeniable route to blood to lust toward loss

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Christa Planko The sinking sun met the purpling starlit sky -- lovers approaching -- cheek-to-cheek in the twilight, pulling on evening's cover.

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

William Burkholder A brilliant trumpet Shattering the silence now Love so beautiful Soul set free to live again Silence of the pulse extinct

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Nells Wasilewski Rendezvous with you I see you waiting for me cheeks flush step quickens I rush toward your waiting arms trying to stay in the dream

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Judy Beaston promise of rain hung heavy weights below gray skies pregnant without birth each moment labors onward craving womb's final breaking

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Charmaine Chircop from between pages the forgotten petal falls on an empty shelf settled dust is today's mud where the priest smells a smudged rose

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Stu Buck Grasping at Scarlet, Umber, Crimson and Auburn Autumn delivers A placid melancholy At odds with its warming hues

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Adam Sprague In pain, I go out And find a new sunflower-- How quick it had changed Now wide open just like me To new possibilities.

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Christina Kapp I lay my breadcrumbs Backwards around your timepiece A clock never stops You eat them all without me Hunger is always on time

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Teddy Kimathi succulent slender grass sprouting from moist soil morning Sun slowly rises as gazelles run across the Sahara plains

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

David Edwards geese, V upon V, in migration formation thunder less distant even sightless eyes can see seasons change in an instant

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Chrystal Berche Gunmetal dreams burn flinty rolls of chalkdust smoke illusions die quiet colorlessly somber deaths eclipsed by neon nightmares

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Kim Anguiano standing close to me fingers feathering my neck paparazzi swarm images forever cast nothing is ever sacred

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Angelo Ancheta orange blood moon above the cloudless sky tonight this silence only we both know so well fills the gaps words cannot say

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Maryam Qureshi Departure of Spring Flowers ready to wither Under barren touch.... Homecoming of bare Autumn The festival of red leaves

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Catherine B. Krause I put on more layers for protection from the cold and I realize there is no situation that I cannot overcome.

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Clarise Samuels stardust and sky swords made of lasers and light beams magical muses at war in the exosphere– highest good; lowest evil.

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Clarise Samuels only a moment frozen here in space and time wandering about– asking our bizarre questions demanding discreet answers.

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Timothy Hicks Between railroad tracks A single blue flower stood So firm and slender - Much like I saw you this morn Gorgeous in the face of death

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Melvina Germain Heartfelt sympathy, embraced in blue shadow light. Black rose bleeding red, tantalized in silent song. True love captures the moment.

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Nells Wasilewski In the still of night your hand resting on my waist igniting soul's flame rush of spring before first bloom full of anticipation

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Goran Rahim We danced with a leaf, Before the last breath of fall. We played with colors, Before the darkness of night. Farewell to happiness !

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Linda Bonney Olin I gave you no name For I could not give you life Cherished unknown child Do you yawn in heaven's arms When I sing you lullabys?

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Linda Bonney Olin cask of aging wine undrunk, not even tasted my time has not come I wait for heaven's steward to approve and pour me out.

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Colin W. Campbell dry winds are calling at the edge of the grasslands when dunes are marching only green battalions might make the desert retreat

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Cathy Bryant I carried mother to the mountain top, leaving her there, as ordered. Descending alone, I wept, skipping lightly as a goat.

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Dani Norman Two rivers twirl by plum blossom trees shadowed scrim I see behind dreams - his singular face, rambling tossed through midnight's dark petals.

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Melissa Patterson Brisk November wind Anxiety courses through my mind and body praying, singing, thanking God clinging to the faith of youth.

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Al Ortolani twenty years married: before turning out the light I watch my wife sleep with Fifty Shades of Gray spilled on her pillow

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Deborah Guzzi First Letter an ancient oak tree towers over the high tor lightening answers my arms outstretched mimic limbs my heart pounds to the thunder Reply letter the storm passes swift as the cut of a steel blade uncauterized, raw the walk home muddies my soles on the refuse of love's dream

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Heather Browne Your graceful swan neck Bends like willows kissing ground Touching my cheek soft I tremble, feeling the wind Rising me high, flying home Your eyes shine opal Every color glorious Drawing me to you Holding my breath with each blink Waiting for your beauty once more ~~~OOO~~~ Listening to your rain Reminds me of temple bells Asking me to kneel Tenderly upon your sand Warmth beneath my lonely feet Your eyebrows arc high Farther than the sun and stars Your light captures me Wanting to bask in your glow Heavenly radiant shine Your voice flows like silk Wrapping me in golden cord Your gift to open I wait to see you delight As I sing to you my love

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Lily Li Even galaxies Could not compare to your eyes So close; yet so far Was your soft heartbeat from mine - Deception at its finest

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Sergio Ortiz I'm going back to a time when I was a woman... my kimono brushes the arid ground

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Dennis Lowe silent apartment love lonely year withering winter frost creeping dark room, untouched things, I find junk mail and a Christmas card

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Dennis Lowe memories of him keeper of law and justice who died long ago I owe my existence to the Judge who matched my parents

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Mary Gunn Youthful adventures On a summer vacation Greek sun on our skin– So many good memories They continue to sparkle

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Mandy Brown Contemplated call Ten digits between our pasts Dialing her number Staring at the telephone Asleep before pressing “send”

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Clarise Samuels this harsh reality I think I know it so well; the thing-in-itself belies the strange illusion, the reflection of the form.

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Lewis Baxter First Letter Your eyes opening As new blooms to welcome dawn Rose upon my tears. Gulls cried for joy at sunrise As I cried to meet again. Reply Letter Nightingales must fly Silent when the sun looks in To the nests they know. Will the osprey soaring now Here return from hunts at sea?

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Kasha Nystrand Flying on a plane Soaring through passing night clouds I look toward the clouds Peaking out the plane window Gazing at another's dreams

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Herb Kauderer sweating shirtless men burning coals shaping metal a group of blacksmiths work the anvil & bellows making their hot day hotter

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Bobby Aldridge Gray weathered oak tree crushed by prevailing winds, leaning on my arm. She pulls rolls from the oven and doesn't notice the heat. Old bricks crumbling, hot, cold, many seasons the building topples. So much rubble in the street, won't even make garden paths. Humiliated– petals circle peonies after stormy nights. Your voice on the phone sobbing, you cannot recall the wind. How many colors can green be on rolling hills in southern summers? Family reunion season, relatives I've never met Kneel at the altar her white foliage flowing my eternal rose. Fragrant summer evenings spent remembering springtime.

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Grady Manus candlelight dances jubilant in the deep dark winter reflections white hot light of your embrace stamped on the walls of my soul

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

C. Z. Heyward tertiary robe descends in spiraling ebbs weightless boughs beckon sweet bombastic eulogy as harvest ashes rustle

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Janet Butler the rains let up night has a damp earth smell with an edge of star moon sits on a high branch I write you in her soft light

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Janet Butler spring arrives at a leisurely pace a slow unbudding my getting to know you charms companionship

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Chris Gusek revelations as she crawls into the bed naked smiling and wet - my flat cap hanging on the post

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Spiros Zafiris the wishing well her eyes steadfastly offer, each time my heart suggests the body or itself seeks consent, rewards them both ~

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Genevieve Fitzgerald you're ice mountain melt frothed rush over tumbled stones crowding discarded twigs hard against roots exposed mesmerizing; in I plunge

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Carly Holmes My world has hardened to platinum and crystal: frost-bleached. But for you, love, my thoughts are blue. Feathers plucked from the wing of a jay.

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Lee Prosser Wrapped within dusk wings Coiling tight, biting, slowly becoming clawed bones Another carcass for crows feeding where kisses once lay

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

Deborah Guzzi a single oak straddles the crest of an ancient mound sheet lightning calls stretching skyward arms mimic my heart pounds as thunder rolls

---

Back to Table of Contents

---

C. Z. Heyward spineless sharecropper antediluvian chores weave chambers of life within soft wet coffee grinds birthing a cascade of blooms

---

Back to Table of Contents

---