By Fred Donovan Somewhere between Venus and Arcturus, my daughter and I squint to seethe comet that will not returnfor 80,000 years, give or take a millennium.But the supermoon drownsthe comet’s dim light,and clouds move in to ensurethe failed viewing. “We’ll see it whenit comes back,” I joke. She is not amused.“Maybe we can catch … Continue reading Christmas Telescope
Gatherers
By Paulette Calasibetta I combmoats ofcrumbling fortresses gathering sea glass,opaque – beryltreasures. I hear thevociferouslaughter of children exploring frothybarnacled jettiessearching briny treasuresfilling bucketsof show and tell. overhead ~screeching gullsin nomadic rhythm pluck outofferingsspawnedby the sea. Paulette Calasibetta writes to express what is seen and what is unseen. Inspired by nature, and the spirit of the human … Continue reading Gatherers
Puppy Love
By Sarah Rosenblatt My puppy is in love with each of the humansin the house.She’s also in love with the momentthat rises up, filled with its mitzvahs. It then departs like a friendwe don’t want to leave. And you see once you take love from an animal and give some back:you are making a lifelong … Continue reading Puppy Love
Evidence
By Jennifer Choi things that are already too broken to fix,& the moment you touch them,they fall apart even more—objects that crumble at the slightest pull.today, a city breaks,today, a house,today, a family,today, a mother,today, a father.in the stationery shop, Nana twinklesfrom inside her little box.the doll my mother made has tangled hair,its neck stiff … Continue reading Evidence
The Devil With A Gun
By Doug Stoiber He rode a crooked path across the plains, and started youngFifteen years old, he robbed a widow with a stolen gunHe rustled cattle, hijacked trains, kidnapped a banker’s childHe killed a missionary priest and left his church defiledThere weren’t laws enough that he could say he hadn’t brokenWith fear and anger, people … Continue reading The Devil With A Gun
Alpine
By KJ Hannah Greenber
Wet Work
By Robert Beveridge So many contracts,and lawyers to enforce them.Time is nothing—no, less.All that mattersis the position, the last kiss,a good scrub of the handswhen done. Surgeonsare better paid in coin,but derive less satisfaction. Robert Beveridge (he/him) makes noise (xterminal.bandcamp.com) and writes poetry on unceded Mingo land (Akron, OH). He published his first poem in … Continue reading Wet Work
A Beautiful Haunting
By Brent Yergensen He sees her in everything--a mother, a wife.To give him life, she took to strife.Does he see what she did in friendship abound?For all his life he'll feel her ghost round.Who is the haunter that he later understood?She saw all things he one day could.Whatever her effort for his behalf,Was her beautiful … Continue reading A Beautiful Haunting
Dreams Within Dreams
By Earl Smith Dreams Within DreamsEarl Smith It was a sunny wintery morning. The air was crisp and bracing. At the edge of a forest clearing, Wolverine sat atop a moss-covered log, his sharp gaze fixed on the open meadow beyond the tree line. Just above him a sleek, inky-black Raven perched on a low-hanging … Continue reading Dreams Within Dreams
A Winter Poem
By James G. Piatt A haunting silence, and the emptiness of longing, pierce through the winter night mist as I sit in the library listening to voices in my mind. They are trudging through long-forgotten memories, and are mere black smudges of forgotten memories. I hear black-feathered crows cawing in the distance, complaining about the … Continue reading A Winter Poem
Academy of the Heart And Mind 