by Susan Spadafora My mother’s sister and family came to visit. Since my cousin Marie was only a year older than me, she was invited to stay a bit longer so we could play together. There was a family get-together planned for the next Sunday, with relatives from my father’s…
by Susanna Hargreaves I knowYou just want to hearwe are safeand to believewe are watched overand protectedI just need to knowI will see your smileunder the autumn trees again -surrounded by goldI will open our windowsand let the wind blow fresh air into every roomThen the house will smell like the…
by Sue Allison If you haven’t thought it in a year, throw it out. Ditto if it is out of style, has holes in it, or doesn’t fit you. It may have never fit you in the first place, or you’ve outgrown it. Likewise, scrutinize thoughts that have, as a…
by Kristal Peace My fatherWas a busy man. He sat all dayIn front of his computer. Often,He took time to check his SmartphoneBecause it beeped a lot; it needed Him.I would try to interrupt himHoping we could play a gameOf tag, or hide-and-seek, or soccer.Or even read a book together….
by Gil Hoy I’ve no use forA stainless steelLightweight Corrosive resistantContraption That encumbersMy wristAnd can’t Tell me anythingUseful anyway. “There will be time,There will be time,To prepare a faceTo meet the facesThat you meet.” No, there’s no timeFor a chronometer With a full date display,Blue dial, rhodium-Plated hands And an…
by Amy Covel Looking back,I can’t regretmy choices. I put on armorto protect myself.It kept me safe,but I lostsome friends. I was serious.This made me matureand successful.But I forgotto be a childuntil I was old.
by Anthony Mohr In 1961, when I was fourteen, downtown Los Angeles was a gritty place to flee at sundown, full of drunks, addicts, and prostitutes. My pal Robbie wanted to take me there. He loved it. He’d walk down Main Street, wander through pawn shops, and meet what, many…
by Julie Worsham (This poem contains sexual abuse and self-harm.) Man, I don’t wanna go to this class todayThe teacher’s always talkin’ bout how I need to apply myselfI guess she don’t understand how badly I want to fade awayJust curl up in my bed, cover my head, and forget…
by Brian Reickert The sun flicked offlike it was on a switch,and the darknessand the cold were instantand absolute. No one expected it to happenlike that, not one.An event utterly without precedentor warning. Every law and book, everyprophecy and prayer,every theory and model, alloverturned and swept away, and no one…
by Thomas Weedman It starts when I lose my keys at work and unexpectedly find K in my apartment bed. She’s a nubile barista I serve coffee with. She’s half my age and size, part-time bassoonist, but like me, a full-time flirt. Out-of-my-league, she and her touch-me-please mestizo skin are…