Laurels #1

after months

of an empty carpet,

a small brown dog

curled where my white darling lay—

learning this replacement

Amelia Fielden

Wollongong, Australia

around and round

a vulture’s vigilance

circling fresh offal

albeit how artful

is the grace of its glide

an’ya

Florence, Oregon

among the cuttings

of lavender and roses

a wish bone twig―

I grab both ends

and pull

Barbara Sabol

Akron, Ohio

leukemia—

keeping notes

on a child’s courage

so someday she knows

a true hero

Betsy Hearne

Urbana, Illinois

a billow

of pollen on the breeze . . .

unfurling

to the dance’s rhythm

i become the flower

Carole Harrison

Jamberoo, Australia

gracefully                    stretching

             into   the   silence . . .

                     one by one

           the    faint    shadow

of     thick    hairy     spider      legs

C. X. Turner

Birmingham, United Kingdom

fly, don’t hover

too close—

there’ll be plenty of time

to buzz around

my corpse

Cynthia Anderson

Yucca Valley, California

dandelions

dot the neglected lawn

bright harbingers

of prairie flowers’

return

David Chandler

Chicago, Illinois

an angry dog

battered and abandoned

eyes locked on mine

that moment no one saw

two injured spirits intertwined

David Lee Hill

Bakersfield, California

lying on this bed

of sun-warmed moss

and lichen,

I imagine myself

a fruiting body

Debbie Strange

Winnipeg, Manitoba

the new year still young

each day a treasure

I’ve stopped

wondering where I am

on the Bell curve of life

Diane Funston

Marysville, California

wet tankers

in that railway siding

stand and wait

with their graffiti

glistening, gorgeous

Gerry Jacobson

Canberra, Australia

darkness

between shards of ice

on the lake

an unknown flower

frozen in time

Jacob D. Salzer

Vancouver, Washington

the smell of manure

can wrinkle a city nose

so acrid, sharp and pungent

to someone raised on a farm

it can be sweet nostalgia

Jacqueline Korschun Hyman

Sawyerville, Québec

near our garden

catbirds weave a nest

and groom it often

but their snug home

has no chicks

Janet Ruth Heller

Portage, Michigan

forced

in winter’s depth

wafts of decay

signal the brightness

of paperwhites

Jon Hare

Falmouth, Massachusetts

her scars

so well hidden

mark the contours

of her beauty

of my love

John Tehan

Cape Cod, Massachusetts

misshapen

but still mine

re-stitched and worn

the ragged bear

with magic hugs

Joanna Ashwell

Barnard Castle, United Kingdom

a suitcase full

of broken dishes

I saved them all

my first fireplace mosaic

was mixed with tears

Kath Abela Wilson

Pasadena, California

it’s even better

second time around . . .

friends notice

a happy lilt in my voice

and love-light in my eyes

Keitha Keyes

Sydney, Australia

my love, i will knit

a cocoon of golden silk

to wrap around you

this winter until the spring

reveals your metamorphosis

Lafcadio

Chattanooga, Tennessee

your pills on the table

cane by the chair

same blue eyes

I fell in love with—

growing old together

Leslie Bamford

Waterloo, Ontario

after a squall

the ocean leaves debris

driftwood, clams and cockles

carried home

to add beauty to routine

Linda Conroy

Bellingham, Washington

left to decay

at the garden gate

snakeskin

today I reveal

my better self

Margaret Tau

New Bern, North Carolina

after the wildfire

the charred eucalypt forest

a sea of green

epicormic shoots

sway in the breeze

Marilyn Humbert

Sydney, Australia

wearing

a kimono remodeled

from grandmother’s

I am a sakura tree

blooming for a hundred years

Mari Konno

Fukui, Japan

the house up the street

sagging disheveled

ignored

until a rainbow

bathed it in indigo

Mark Teaford

Napa, California

the dusty smell

of an antique store

an old toy

from my childhood

calls to me

Mel Goldberg

Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico

the plaque on the courthouse

by the town square

records the high water mark

as if we might one day learn

how to love again

Michael Dylan Welch

Sammamish, Washington

kintsugi

Grandma’s tea cup

carelessly broken

carefully mended

beautifully scarred

Michael Flanagan

Hamilton, New York

a used copy

of Huckleberry Finn

highlighted in yellow

someone else’s thoughts

about what is important

Michael Ketchek

Rochester, New York

a strange beauty

in the way he glides

down the hallway

the balding macrocephalic

with those vacant fawn eyes

Michael H. Lester

Los Angeles, California

surely bent

but still serviceable

he moves snow

with his old shovel

as easily as a youngster

Michele L. Harvey

Hamilton, New York

spider webs

interlace the treetops

after rain

crystal chandeliers

glisten in the sunlight

Michelle Brock

Queanbeyan, Australia

clearing

the back corner of the yard

I decide not to decide

weed

or flower

Peggy Hale Bilbro

Huntsville, Alabama

an ugly chunk

of live-oak firewood

curved just so

becomes a modest nude

with wide carved eyes

Peter Larsen

Lake View Terrace, California

swept up

by the autumn wind

a maple leaf

pinwheels

in the spider’s web

Rick Jackofsky

Rocky Point, New York

grandma

was a fearless wing walker

who married

a well-known snake charmer

such tales she made up for us

Roberta Beach Jacobson

Indianola, Iowa

teary-eyed

the sun a bright orange ball

such beauty

from forest fires raging

hundreds of miles away

Robert Erlandson

Birmingham, Michigan

leafing through old pictures

full of our young smiles

I caress the frayed edges

will your fingers smooth them out

these lines that mark our years

Suraja Menon Roychowdhury

Lexington, Massachusetts

how I persist

despite your attempts

to keep me down . . .

a dandelion growing

in a sidewalk crack

Susan Burch

Hagerstown, Maryland

a grass spider

backs into the funnel

of her web . . .

the mysteries within

our hidden selves

Susan Weaver

Allentown, Pennsylvania

a broken shell

glued to a piece

of sea glass

becomes the fin of a fish

that birthed an artist

Tim Cremin

Andover, Massachusetts

a rough scholar’s rock

sculptured for a waterfall

spoke clearly to me

healing my wounded soul

and bringing me needed peace

William Kerr

New York, New York