Aftermath
the settling of ashes.
the loss between
house and souls
windows left open
unwashed plates
front door half open
a pink ribbon
on the floor
cloud shadows
paint the yard,
gliding over
chairs and toys
like still life
before sunset
sunset
To a Construction Worker in the Hills of Portugal Near the Sea
You hack at your ancient red hills
like those creatures who eat parts of their own bodies
digging for the gold of overpopulation, pollution, and upward mobility
for 60 escudos a day
to deliver the Northerner’s rich dream
and at sunset sit in the old plaza deafened by swallows
and return to the crumbling tile-roofed box of earth beyond the hill
and at dawn once again set the long white caterpillar of villas
creeping toward you to devour you.
The Cup of Trembling
The sunset is made of gold. It is
made of gold, the sunset, this sunset.
It is made of gold—pure gold spills down the mountainside
and I kneel before the mountainside’s golden
spread
Kneel on the stone and burn this image into my forsaken
brain, sear gold onto my retinas, behind its sackcloth
consciousness (made of gold, it is made
of pure gold—this sunset—made of, made of, made of the quintessent
stuff)
To Settle the Night
Sky streaks lavender and orange to lowering blue.
Night chill rises, flicking at pants legs, leaf piles,
dampens sidewalk to footstep skate.
Beyond the greasy click of a security gate,
last birds circle to settle on a sleeping roost,
scavengers slink the hedge lines,
eroded wastes of tree root, fence rot.
Phone-nervous, the late-working husband,
lover late with wine and Chinese
hustles towards an unsettled greeting.
Chairs Rest
Chairs Rest Like old married couple almost holding hands two lawn chairs rest at lake’s edge. Arms spread in anticipation of sunset each evening before frogs launch into serenade, and waves lap against shore; sound of kissing. Diane Webster‘s goal is to remain open to poetry ideas in everyday life, nature or an overheard phrase […]
Read more "Chairs Rest"All the mournful songs
All the mournful songs They pick the finest days To play from the treetops Where the orioles whistle And dogs howl at the feet Wailing branches bridge Into dirges at sunset When I go out for a walk Along the shore – Saturnine sea sighing To my face as I gather Pebbles for a headstone. […]
Read more "All the mournful songs"Panning
Jake Zawlacki currently writes and lives in the California Bay Area. He has been published in The Citron Review, Riggwelter, Eunoia Review, Gravel, Litro and many others. Panning “Godammit.” “What?” “My damn hearing aid fell out.” The two had been panning for gold. Manzanita and red shank covered the shale mountain. The stream struggled through the […]
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Kristina Krumova is 29 years old and she lives in Sofia, Bulgaria. She has a Master’s Degree in Contemporary History from Sofia University and she was an Editor at New Social Poetry Magazine, (Bulgaria). Her work was published in North of Oxford, Ann Arbor Review, The Pangolin Review, Rusty Truck, The Conclusion Magazine, Oddball Magazine and The Mad Swirl. Kristina Krumova works as a freelance […]
Read more "Unititled"Growing Younger As The Sun Goes Down
King Grossman is an award-winning poet, novelist, and writer of short prose. His poems and short prose have appeared or are forthcoming in The Round, Licking River Review, Crack the Spine, Forge, Tiger’s Eye, DMQ Review, Diverse Voices Quarterly, Qwerty, Burningword, Ignatian, Drunk Monkeys, The Paragon Journal, Pennsylvania English, SLAB, Slag Review, Midwest Quarterly, The […]
Read more "Growing Younger As The Sun Goes Down"myth rural china 1961
Kenneth Kesner left school after reading in European classics and philosophy then sought a career teaching in East Asia, where he began to study martial arts and write poems. Some recent work is included or forthcoming in Children of Orpheus (Subterranean Blue Poetry), The Ibis Head Review, The Opiate, Otis Nebula and Tule Review. myth rural china 1961 a field where women are planting […]
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