By Moss Springmeyer Like a magnet seizing an iron filing, the California Gold Rush of 1849 dragged Jack west willy nilly. A myriad other iron filings tumbled along too, jolted loose from their pasts, a brotherhood of zest for adventure and dazzling dreams of riches. He’d chased every whisper of a gold strike for five … Continue reading Mountain mail runner, February 1859
The Scariest Things
By Adaline LaBossiere Halloween is coming This was my childhood, the chance to experiment and enjoy different styles that my parents would never let me try I always enjoyed going from house to house and there were always these houses that went all out and tried to scare you and gave you a ton of … Continue reading The Scariest Things
Submitted During the Summer Break?
Did you send us an email submission during the break?Do you want us to consider it for our next open pool? If you did, please read our updated submission guidelines and resubmit your piece. We're looking forward to what you have written during this time!
Wildflowers and Other Poems
By Laura Denny Wildflowers The rain came down in sheetsthe winter before my husband died.He was very thin. His face a closed book. For two years he had sufferedthe scalpel, the staples,the poisonings. The radiationburns blooming like fire on his tender neck.In the midst of all that wreckagelike a purple crocus singing herselfthrough darknessour daughter … Continue reading Wildflowers and Other Poems
Thoughts on a Stormy Night
By James G. Piatt Splintered raindrops splashed on the remnants of mydreams as the sky filled with the haunting sounds of nightfall’s cold winds. A storm thrown against the last days of March breathed its last gasp and I struggled through the cold hours of the night with thoughts of a sunnier tomorrow. A sense … Continue reading Thoughts on a Stormy Night
A Wing-stroked Spectacle
By Daniel Moreschi Previously published by Society of Classical Poets Segmented sets of starlings sharply elevatetowards candescent skies, suspend, then circulate in sync. Their wingspans whisper sunset symphonieswhile manifesting silhouetted symmetries.With poise, finesse and swiftness, they transform the airinto an ever-changing scape; this canvas whereeach turn and swirl unfolds a painterly display:a moving mural, rendered … Continue reading A Wing-stroked Spectacle
Planting
By Daniel W. Brown We trowel in moist brown earthmist holds dawn to the green leaves of seedlings we plant placed just soin improvised fashionby annual practiceour knees ache when planting peppers,early arrivers, ripening green maturing as cathedral red bellsa geography of purplegreen Italian and Thai basilsfor colorful spiced August pestojourneys of Japanese tri-colored and … Continue reading Planting
Wordsmith
By Mehreen Ahmed Water and oil don’t mix. Not much use trying to fix. Determined, not to form a new word out of a suffix. To create a poem seamlessly; a poet is to transcend, from the mundaneness most likely; wordsmithing may take place to one’s fancy.In a poem contrarily;the poet then must blend in … Continue reading Wordsmith
Uncommon Valor and Song from Heaven, Piercing Hell
By Douglas J. Lanzo Uncommon Valor “Uncommon valor was a common virtue.” Admiral Chester Nimitz of our men who fought on Iwo Jima Standing before the flagraised atop Mount Suribachia marine did ask mewhether I had any questions:I nodded, and heard sounds, saw scenes,of men and carnage, primal screams,of death and valor, heroes downed,marines cut … Continue reading Uncommon Valor and Song from Heaven, Piercing Hell
The Decision
By Brian Connelly “What am I doing?” he thought to himself as he peered aimlessly out of the bus window. The bus rattled its way across the dusty road, crawling across miles and miles of desert. He wondered, at times, whether the bus had taken a wrong turn and, rather than inform everyone and backtrack, … Continue reading The Decision
Academy of the Heart And Mind 