By Thomas Page The Purple Blossoms of Late Summer In the plot by my porch purple flowers have bloomed During the Roman’s esteemed month To speckle the onions and the leeks Looking as clean as the weeds In the summer’s rains and shines. How pleasant are these surprises of nature Which see the green … Continue reading The Purple Blossoms of Late Summer and Other Poems
Hedge Your Bets
By Doug Dawson "Bless me Father, it's been ... three years since my last confession and these are my sins." "Just a minute, my son ... why so long?" "I've been very ... busy, Father." "Too busy to come to confession?" "I've been ... doing other things." "Have you … Continue reading Hedge Your Bets
Nellie: A Story About A Childhood Regular
By Maureen Barron Nellie was BIG. When she came to visit when I was small she blocked the light out in the doorway, I could see some sky above her head and some of the yard through her ankles. She would haul herself into the house by clutching either side of the door frame with … Continue reading Nellie: A Story About A Childhood Regular
Music Stillborn, or Just Interrupted and Other Poems
By Holly Day Music Stillborn, or Just Interrupted Strewn with the bones of sailors lured to its rocky shores By sirens singing songs of love and sometimes loneliness Arms outstretched to passing ships as if in joyous embrace. A broken heart floats on a cold, neurotic sea. The waters beat upon the beach in bone-crushing … Continue reading Music Stillborn, or Just Interrupted and Other Poems
Adamantine Redux September 2020
By Jim Dodds The lost conceits we all maintain grow weary as the seasons turn all the strategies we use collapse, and mirrors do our pleading spurn. These adamantine phantoms fade, all pretense, smoke and mirrors just like dramas set on Shakespeare's stage, the ghosts of anger, fear and lust. Do fame and love and … Continue reading Adamantine Redux September 2020
Don’t Judge a Word By How It Sounds and Other Poems
By Alex Andy Phuong Don’t Judge a Word by How it Sounds “Clandestine” sounds nice Yet secrets obscure the truth It IS a big deal! Behind Scenic Fantasy Behind the glamour Of what many consider Beautiful is Fact Bedtime Lying in bed Implies laziness But sleep is essential To begin again And after the day … Continue reading Don’t Judge a Word By How It Sounds and Other Poems
I Trust Your Highness Will Excuse My Being Opal Creek and Other Poems
By Jake Sheff I Trust Your Highness Will Excuse my Being Opal Creek “Do a similarity of paths in life and a similarity of situations give rise to a similarity in characters? As a general thing it doesn’t. For people with strong minds and spirits of their own it does not. They have their own … Continue reading I Trust Your Highness Will Excuse My Being Opal Creek and Other Poems
Formal Request
By Allison Futterman For LMF You come to my dorm room holding your pants in your right hand. In your left is an iron, and a jacket is crisply folded and draped over your arm. I realize this is your ROTC dress uniform. You pull out a roll of iron-on fabric tape from your backpack … Continue reading Formal Request
The Nightmare in the Sky
By Frank Kowal Billy’s mother was struggling to catch her breath. She had just dodged four lanes of fast-moving city traffic and was now holding onto an old public phone across the street from her building. But because a growing crowd was staring at her—she was wearing a bare-shouldered, sparkling red, floor-length evening gown—she kept … Continue reading The Nightmare in the Sky
The Practice
By Jim Woessner With great difficulty an old man climbs a creek bank carrying a large stone that looks as if it weighs twenty pounds. Although he walks slowly and bends at the waist, he appears relatively fit for someone in his eighties. His short white hair and stubby beard accentuate the deep lines in … Continue reading The Practice
Academy of the Heart And Mind 