&

stormy night—
when the lights go out
he teaches me to tango

Becky Reich
    Hollandale, WI

I thought I knew you Queen Anne's lace

Lee Gurga
    Champaign, IL

returning geese—
the neighbor comes over
to kibbitz

Barry George
    Philadelphia, PA

apple blossoms—
discovering grandmother
eloped

J. Zimmerman
    Santa Cruz, CA

my father's funeral—
I thought
it would be bigger

Ken Olson
    Yakima, WA

adagio
she brushes back a wisp
of her daughter's hair

Victor Ortiz
    San Pedro, CA

blackberry brambles
her story
not mine to tell

Carolyn Hall
    San Francisco, CA

breaking up a sentence fragment

Tom Painting
    Atlanta, GA

the fragrance
of night blooming cacti . . .
her buttons undone

Paresh Tiwari
    Hyberabad, India

cave dwellings . . .
I follow a lizard
up the trail

Aubrie Cox
    Taylorville, IL

far Japan
now as close as
the tip of my brush

Lidia Rozmus
    Vernon Hills, IL

sundial . . .
all the time
spent looking for what's lost

Bill Pauly
    Asbury, IA

my doctor asks
if my tongue is sore
now it is

John J. Han
    Manchester, MO

wherever I am with her Paris

Robert Epstein
    El Cerrito, CA

retracing my steps
the bread crumbs
of her parting words

Bob Lucky
    Jubail, Saudi Arabia

after the diner
I look more carefully
at plain women

John Stevenson
    Nassau, NY

mole hill
the little good
it does me

Glenn G. Coats
    Prospect, VA

thistledown children drifting away

Lorin Ford
   Melbourne, Australia

just before
the casket closes
fixing mother's hair

Jerome J. Cushman
    Victor, NY

bad weather
in an envelope
I put a stamp on it

Randy Brooks
    Decatur, IL

local bar
the child hopscotches
on the tile

Gayle Bull
    Mineral Point, WI

 
  o           n
nuclear winter

LeRoy Gorman
    Napanee, ON

ice cream cart
two foot police chatting
with a pretty girl

Marian Olson
    Santa Fe, NM

sounds from the bog
Emily and a nobody hear them
summer night

Cor van den Heuvel
    New York, NY