By Jim Bates I’ll never forget my first helium balloon. I got two of them for my second birthday. Two red ones, my favorite color. My grandpa gave them to me. “Here you go, Lonny,” he said, smiling. “Enjoy.” I did. My grandpa loved helium-filled balloons. Not those mylar ones with sayings on them like … Continue reading Helium
The Miserable
By Tammy B. Tsonis I was born to be miserable like my mother and her mother before her. I was five when I discovered my destiny. I ran toward the kitchen for my favorite snack– a hostess twinkie - and saw my mother crying, tears rolling down her cheeks as she held a dirty mop … Continue reading The Miserable
Death Doesn’t Kiss Back
By Ben Cromwell I saw a cartoon, once, in some magazine, or maybe it was online. It said life was in love with death, and that over the years, life had sent gifts to death. A little cartoon turtle walked across the frame, going from young to old as it went. A dark robed figure … Continue reading Death Doesn’t Kiss Back
She Pretends Not to Speak
By Victoria Hewitt Her hair is grayed at the temples now. Her bones are more brittle and her voice cracks when she speaks to her cat. Her children live across the country with families of their own and her husband of 40 years passed away from the impact of the car that struck him while … Continue reading She Pretends Not to Speak
Burning Blue
By Ellie Stewart A pair of eyes, bluer than the midday sky, gleamed in the black dungeon. It had worked. The master’s invention had finally come to life as expected. As soon as the news was broken to the rest of the town, the old tinker on the outskirts of civilization would no longer live … Continue reading Burning Blue
The Lucky Ones and Other Poems
By Manuel Matei The Lucky Ones How did they knew when to disappear and make the best use of their life? In true Edison style, disaster led directly to innovation: the obstacle became the path. The art of turning adversity into triumph. In order to do great things we have to endure tragedies, to love … Continue reading The Lucky Ones and Other Poems
What Else Can I Say? and Other Poems
By Esha Sury What Else Can I Say? This bone-tiredness to speak ended as pure reprieve. I dispose of my last pen and a surrendered dove, as remittance, gave its’ awareness to me in a dawn of non-talk. I wish plainly to cradle wordless breath, to unashamedly swallow the verse I could’ve written on a … Continue reading What Else Can I Say? and Other Poems
Yield and Other Poems
By Stephen Kingsnorth Yield You know, like dough, a verse needs rest, before again you wrestle words, or like a smith you hammer, beat, to smash the molten into shape. Now does it sizzle, tip dipped, cool, or maybe back to furnace heat, avoid pig-iron, brittle work, when best is wrought through sweated toil? If … Continue reading Yield and Other Poems
Where the Sun is Silent
By Austin Jones he air was dry and heavy. The sun gave no warmth though it shone bright. Once, not long ago, a serene mountain with lush green trees and open trails. It was now covered in thick snow. Tobin was hunting and being hunted. He hoped he would find his god-forsaken dragon fast, before … Continue reading Where the Sun is Silent
I continue to dream and Other Poems
By Vanaja Malathy I continue to dream As a little girl I dreamt my play to all day last, As an adolescent I dreamt of growing up fast, As a girl in teens I daydreamed a world of fantasy, damsel dreams of love and adventure you can’t see As a woman in my middle age … Continue reading I continue to dream and Other Poems
Academy of the Heart And Mind 