By Jamie Nguyen Purple Orchids shutters close; wind sends branches trapezing through thick tropical air. rain’s shadowed figure’s insistent tapping against window panes, thunder knocks on doors. the avenue’s a river, the neighborhood a swamp. drum fingertips to the beat of the hurricane’s pounding. hide under covers, doors stay locked. but tucked behind the mango … Continue reading Purple Orchids and Other Poems
The Happy Wanderer
By Bruce Costello The sky is vast, the stars numinous, the moon low. The trees, asleep, are listening through their leaves though they make neither movement, nor sound. Fields, bathed in silver, stretch to dark hills with here and there a glint of creek or pond. The first ray of the sun travels through my … Continue reading The Happy Wanderer
Whispers in the Mists
By Leonie Rauber The fog is alive and it whispers to me. Its voices are everywhere, encasing me like the billowing vapor that makes the mists. I step forward, and the fog parts as if I were Moses and it the Red Sea. But it swirls, settles on my arms and fingers and face and … Continue reading Whispers in the Mists
As the Sunset Shifts from a Cool White to Umber Orange, Birds are Dying
By Keith Hoerner No wind flows Through wingspan No lift Force No air- Foil Aves find Themselves As thrown Stones Beaks raking Earth like plows To sow dying swan Songs *Golden Seeds* *Feathered Prayers* *Sacred Supplication* To germinate and Grow And even perhaps— Soar again Keith Hoerner lives, teaches, and pushes words around in Southern … Continue reading As the Sunset Shifts from a Cool White to Umber Orange, Birds are Dying
My Garden
By P. Oscar Cubillos I have orange, pink, and red roses many colors and shapes of tulips gladiolus, nasturtium and peonies; blue irises, lilacs and crepe myrtles. I like the soft smell of the roses, tomatoes’ smell is very different but still pleasant; tarragon, basil and mint; thyme, oregano and chive remind me of a … Continue reading My Garden
California Dreams and Waves of Time
By Leah Brodsky California Dreams I dream of a time where I can go back to California, Where I can see the surfers on the Waves in wetsuits protecting them from sorrow, Where the food trucks have men Offering napkins to wipe away pain. California is full of strangers, Of park rangers, And Avengers. I … Continue reading California Dreams and Waves of Time
Where My Spine Got in Shape and Other Poems
By Doerthe Huth Where My Spine Got in Shape recently I found my way back to my own beginning on which the backbone of my life got in shape and hardened like liquid steel under river water A Industrial City - of all places? you asked. Why not Berlin, Syney or New York? Later I … Continue reading Where My Spine Got in Shape and Other Poems
The After
By Glenn Dungan Snow infiltrates their boots as they limp along the expanse, an uneven rhythm of chains dangling behind them, stringing a paint swath of blood. It is just the two of them now, Donny and Kate, and both know the irony of their situation. Handcuffs chain them together. Kate always thought Donny walks … Continue reading The After
Jill & the Mountain
By Nancy Lou Henderson Jill turned onto the dirt road that led to the house. Looking out of the car’s windshield, she could see the house up ahead and the towering Mountain that stood behind it. Stopping the vehicle for a moment, Jill slowly inhaled as she took in the breathtaking sight in front of … Continue reading Jill & the Mountain
A Rendezvous That I Dreaded
By Marzia Rahman And almost canceled it, but it was nothing daunting or dreadful. Rather it was fun, just like old days—those green and gleeful days—when we were young and carefree, and I was naïve and not married. Daniel said he was working in a multinational company called Brad and Brad. He looked charming as … Continue reading A Rendezvous That I Dreaded
Academy of the Heart And Mind 