By: Carl “Papa” Palmer Pleased with my brand new door lock knobs,chrome, smooth, tapered, anti-theft,no ridge to grasp with a coat hanger,I swing shut the door to my truckwith the keys dangling from the ignition. Knowing the doors are locked,I…
By: Melissa Graham I wait again.I am not your expectations.I wait for you to feel me, hear meI wait for you to seenot my hairnot my skinbut the soul that lives within.I am not unbreakableI am not replaceableSomeday you will…
By: Jim Brosnan Postcard from a Forgotten Town I wrote phrases,fragmentsof thought,so manymiles awayas I recalledtrain whistlesbreakingevening silenceand headlightson the nearbystretchesof highwaypassing overwinding hillsas I now watchlingering embersleapfrom a fireplaceas snowflakestumbleacross the lawn. ### Landscape of Reminders Sleet splattersthe windshieldof…
By: Douglas K Currier Residential care Day 99 Long-term residential care smells of death:incontinence, the odor of liniment, industrial disinfectant,moth balls, menthol, old clothes, meds,and the liquid, pervasive smells of the cafeteria.I already lack the small-motor skills to take pills….
By: Dr. Piku Chowdhury The crouching fluffy feline graceWould eye me with some carelessnessThe frisky fallow fright of sparrowIn my narrow harrowed pace.Constant feline surveillanceOn my stealthy subsistenceTrying to scrape some rhyme or senseOff the tacky correctness.Between kitty on the…
By: David Francis Home When I went back to my ancestral homeI put on my old clothesthey were still there hangingthree years had come and gone I went through all my belongingsI didn’t know I’d find those old photographshalf-expecting to…
By: Alethea Jimison Little Bird Get Inside Your Cage Children are meant to be seen- not heard. The adults tell us that they value our voices and yet shut us down when we speak without compliance. I am a separate…
By: Ram Govardhan Every revolt,modest or armed, matters.Every fight can’t placatethe plights, or restore the rights.Every resistance can’tturn into a revolution, orforce a coup d’état, orupset the status quo.At times, can’teven scream a defiance.At times, can’teven prove its existencedreading its…
By: Karoline Wimmer Ocean Pangaea Her gaze softensas the last tideripplesthrough the one desire ofheat ocean.She recalls a momentlighting the fire ofthose burdened dunes,faces of those loved.Flash, the photographthat cannot end.As the last tide sends ripples throughthe ocean of all…
By: Vivian Yu Where I’m From I’m from sunshine,from summer, shorts, and snacks.I’m from the hot air that hugs me closely,from the gentle breeze that takes my sweat away.From the reflection of the May sun on morning dews,also from the…