Anita McQueen - Three Poems

TOO MANY NIGHTS

Too many nights
in solitude

feeling
the emptiness

us loners
alone

vivid dreams
at fingertips

leaving moisture
on our lips.

LOVE TRAIN

Ride me like I'm the last train to Heaven.
Tickle my belly.  Pat my forehead.
Gaze out my windows and see
the New Land.

Ride me...
Ride me...
We'll never run out of track.

THE HIP TOUR

Going on
the hip tour

strutting
summer in my steps

I shame
those teasers

with a flutter
of my green eyes
growing wings to Malibu

landing in a backyard
of some rich Wilt
I'll deceive
until he proves himself
a gem.

Russell Streur - One Poem

The Advice of Li Po’s Ghost

We have cash in hand
For Turkish figs
Black pepper
And Medjool dates

The moon at wax
Through the window
Is always free

And the price of night
Is never due
Until the morning

When Li Po’s ghost
Whispers in our ears
‘Never say no
To wine.’

Stephen Willams - Three Poems

LOST LOVE

Lost love
running down my leg
into a puddle,
a lake,
a sea drowning me.

OLD MEMORIES

Old memories
constantly nibbling
at the edges of my mind...

I wish to return.

TRAPPED

Trapped in aging
skin,
muscle,
bone...
I ache to fly....

Ron Koppelberger - One Poem

Sweet Sanctity

Remedies of discovery and vigilance,

An arrow in ascending melancholy

And balanced spectacle,

A trapping in torn vestures of charm,

Descried by the touch of loves sweet sanctity

And passions arrival, the flourishing bond of devoted

Security and care for the ancient arts

Of affection, a tear in gentle waves

Of sufferance and radiant will.

Diane Webster - Two Poems

A MATTER OF SWARMS

Swarms of gnats

encircle the parked car

while bird watchers muse

and applaud, ooh and ah

like Fourth of July fireworks

as hundreds of sand hill cranes

fly away into Colorado’s blue sky.

A MOMENT OF YOUTH

Old man shuffles

his walker and dog

up the hill.

Scream, “Mush!”

and slap that leash

across canine hinny

and ride that walker

like a silver-streaking sled

sliding over sidewalk cement

all the way to the top

never minding blown-off hat

lying in the gutter with leaves.

Whoop and holler

all the way to the front door.

“Whew. We made it, pal,”

and the dog wags its tail.