By Roger Funston I’m watching traditional German folk dancing on my 70th birthday today (May 5, 2024) at a German social club in Sacramento, California. Men and women in traditional German garb perform the Maypole Dance. We arrive at the opening, spy an amazing display of desserts laid out on a table and go directly … Continue reading Birthday Surprises
Believe… The Heart Must Know
By Heymy Patiño Martínez While in México, my mother sent my father photo booth photographs. Of us. Of her. Border separation, steel fenced. Erected, engineered to digitize the family. In school kids tell us we are weird. Not because we are, but because we are fatherless. Left. Alone. No head of household.I was born truly … Continue reading Believe… The Heart Must Know
Sun Crossing
By Frances Leitch SUN SONG In the Sun Songthe swallows flytwo abreastCutting across the skyThe bubbling brookdances on mossy rocksPlaying endlesslythe tune of laughterBuck and doeCross green grassin the meadowAnd butterfliesSpread their wings to the sunWarm themselvesand then are goneSun Song Summertime So light and fullBillowy white cloudsRoam across The sky of blueUpturned faces of … Continue reading Sun Crossing
Ben Alone
By Detlef Wieck Ben stood in the middle of the floor, looking at the layers of newspaper he had put there to block the cold drafts that were coming up through the cracks between the rough, worn, boards of the floor. Although the majestic cook range was burning with the draft all the way open, … Continue reading Ben Alone
Shelter from the Storm
By Teresa Freeland I hate our SUV. I hate the ugly brown exterior. I hate the glove compartment that won’t stay shut. I hate the aqua blue seats and the muddy beige carpet. And I hate that I have one more whole day of relentless riding in the hated back seat with my repulsive little … Continue reading Shelter from the Storm
I Felt it in My Blood
By Lennox Shuppe I remember my great grandmother, Maude, collecting things. She went to flea markets in rural Oklahoma, coming home with little treasures that she squirreled away. Her home smelled of cinnamon, sage, and old books. The ground was neatly swept cement in her tiny little home on the Cherokee reservation. As you walked … Continue reading I Felt it in My Blood
Burnt Sienna
By Jim Bates Fall was her favorite season. Smiling and happy she walked woodland trails collecting leaves and weeds and grasses. She enjoyed the feel of nature in her hands she liked to say, especially the colorful leaves. Sometimes she’d take him along, holding his tiny hand gently like she held her collections. He’d follow … Continue reading Burnt Sienna
Anchor
By Ashby Neterer Since wild winds have gone and restless rains have ceased and starry skies broke into dawn, you cut your anchor free. Now that storm has passed, and waves wound down their rage, you broke the chain that bound you fast at your most needful stage. But when the clouds collect, and you, … Continue reading Anchor
Dawn
By Kal Stein Soft light under gray skiesA gentle rain fallingThe quiet sound of waterWashing the grass and stonesSoothing my soulThey are all asleepWarm under the coversStill dreaming, wrapped in memoriesAs the morning beginsWaiting for no onePossibilities aboundTo be seizedThis day will not happen again Kal Stein resumed writing poetry after retiring from a lifetime … Continue reading Dawn
Seasons
By Vern Fein You can’t slip and fall on sunshinewhich reveals my prejudiceagainst Old Man Winterwho I would trip whenhe wasn’t lookingcause him to falland break his anklelike my boss didon that black ice at the airportwhich he couldn’t see because of the sun glare.Oh shoot.You have to be carefulevery season. A recent octogenarian, Vern … Continue reading Seasons
Academy of the Heart And Mind 