By Aviva Derenowski I'm going away. Not very far, across the globe, to meet another me who is confused and disoriented. She grew up in a different country. I'll lead her by the heart to a place of belonging and self-appreciation. I'll clear the fog and the cobwebs from her mind and watch her breathe … Continue reading Younger Selves
A Without a Home and Other Poems
By Mike Neville A Man Without A Home Put out into the world to find my own way… Knowing in my life there were dues I had to pay… I can’t go home and I cannot stay here… Feelings come back to me and bring on a tear… Take me back to that place I … Continue reading A Without a Home and Other Poems
Writer’s Block and Other Poems
By Aishwariya Laxmi Writer's Block When she first sat down to write She bled a drop or two of pain onto the page Now those drops have become a cyclonic flood And nothing can stop her From bleeding red rubies that shine Upon a barren earth The Writer as a Mystic Do you see yourself … Continue reading Writer’s Block and Other Poems
Thoughts About Another Winter Bundled Up in Poetry
By Richard LeDue I November snow feeling colder than fresh hell, and the same tracks walked in so much that they don't even look human anymore, while the weather forecast is prerecorded and replayed on the hour for those who still own radios. II New Year's Day hangovers far enough away that a lone leftover … Continue reading Thoughts About Another Winter Bundled Up in Poetry
Four Poems from Appalachia, Virginia
By Kenneth Purscell Ball Field and Stream For just a moment Pause and smell the popcorn, Chocolates, gum, chips, The hot dogs in their coats Of bread and chili and cheese. The last remaining breaths Of winter hang in the shadow Of the wall. The first Promises of spring fruit Are only wisps in the … Continue reading Four Poems from Appalachia, Virginia
Ode To Stewed Rutabagas – From The Depths Of A 3-Grader’s Heart and Other Poems
By Nan Corbitt Allen Ode To Stewed Rutabagas - From The Depths Of A 3-Grader’s Heart Oh orange root Thou foulest stench Pungently permeate morning walls of this primary school. How shall I think? How shall I learn? When I know I must face the teacher’s three-bite rule? Oh, lunchtime bell Delay…delay Or child-sized desk … Continue reading Ode To Stewed Rutabagas – From The Depths Of A 3-Grader’s Heart and Other Poems
Audacity and Love Will Come
By Pete Mladinic Audacity Courage to say after this, nothing, blank, maybe. Imaginable also unimaginable—on, on, on with no me. I sparrow-chirp dewy buds, light on walls, the head of foam on the tall draft are once only. Then, nada of lime and worms. Down there, no party. That’s for diggers, for openers of the … Continue reading Audacity and Love Will Come
ICD-10 F43.1 and Other Poems
By E Kerr ICD-10 F43.1 chronic. you see through me like an X-ray machine— too much ionizing radiation can make a person sick. Nuclear Motherland my mother will always be a mother, even if she’s not my mother by choice; I am native to her science, formed in matrical manners, meant to be, and my … Continue reading ICD-10 F43.1 and Other Poems
Pupils and Other Poems
By Stephen Kingsnorth Pupils I’ve noticed, despite forty years, how scene in seen by different eyes; whatever episode we share, attention’s paid from other lists. I note the old, sway hardboard walls, the makeshift stairs, strained bannisters, while she absorbed, how cast decked out - the clothes as worn, not battered props. I listen hard … Continue reading Pupils and Other Poems
After the Picnic and The Paisley Corduroy
By Susan Van Pelt Petry After the Picnic The sandwich bones left, the falling tide sucked through the gut, the wind snapped southeast, deep Atlantic blew in and the fog arrived. All lilt and laughter turned trembling, wet, dropped below deck, a halyard slacked, the genoa flapped, and a loon cried. Sounds from the shore … Continue reading After the Picnic and The Paisley Corduroy
Academy of the Heart And Mind 