By Laura Ditto I’m sure you must have heard  of many cowboy men—  Billy the Kid and Buffalo Bill—  but this ain’t about all them.  See, I doubt you know  that among the plains,  a mighty girl once roamed  with skill about the reins.  In fiesty herds of cattle  she always stood her ground  and fired a blazing pistol  with a deafening sound.    Yes, it is she—  who rangers never slew—  the fearsome, frightening, fighting:  the Mighty Wrangler Sue.    They say she could mend clothes,  while riding cross the range,  yodeling into the night  so folks all called her strange.    She liked to walk in trousers,  and…

By Kenneth A Hughes It’s wave after crashing wave  Over the walls and spreading wetting  Filling every space and bursting past  Rippling with vibrations  Pulsating emanating generating pumping out  Overwhelming all encompassing  Reverberating releasing relays    Splashing forth and ever present  Nothing but this is important to remember  Always will and will be  Captivated appreciated celebrated  Flowing edges onward pouring  Steadily gaining maintaining the volume    Breathe it in and breathe it out  It’s all we are and all we need  As is the way of the stars  Grow like a flower  Share this Love   Love eternally  Love 

By Kenneth A. Hughes Walking through the values you entered unto the world/  Fraught with nought nary a faerie, “Not Fair He!”   These globs of stops are concluding a protruding confusing intrusive elusive notion current on the currents in motion on the Bering Sea portion of the Pacific Ocean/  Land meets man, meats man & plans stands for days in ways that’s it’s laid out like gout, stout as a shout/  This gory “Glory & hallelujah” in collusion to Illusion; losing to a lost paradise parable parked between antiquated ideas flayed and displayed in an intricate array  The main rage on the stage is parading cascading triumvirate hues/  Stoned and…

By Miles Dennis I crushed my fingers stacking wood.  Cut my fingers on parking-lot glass.  Broken arms, been snapped by ropes, and burned by countless careless touches of the stove.  I cursed and cried each as I waited for them to fade.  It is different now, I can’t find it now. It is everywhere, except when I look for it, when it is nowhere.   The half-dead trees outside are wrong, they won’t bear leaves this spring. The half-melted streets are wrong too, they will never melt out, and I think it’s inside somewhere. I can’t find it.  The East is wrong too, the sun won’t come up in the morning.…

By Jordan Hales I am the villain, and I will never win. My words are laced with venom. My ambition stings. I am never wrong, nor am I right. Vanity is worn on my iron sleeve. Viridian is my color. Black is my heart. Silver are the swords that stay at my side. I am the villain, and when you fall, I triumph. I taunt. I tear. I am only a reflection. I burn, you blunder. Betrayal is a given—by you, by me. I will love you. I will leave you, and you will watch me walk away. The ground burns in my footprints. Power blazes within me, but not…

By Kenneth A Hughes Show me, show me what you see  A scared little boy in a circle of uncertainty  Whispers in the dark trees unknown  He comes in to surrender, Alone  Lies and sin fall from his lips  The boulder he carries falls and splits  Suffering and hell he sees  Promises of Growth gossips the trees  His head is full of confusion and doubt  He’s cold when the stars and fire Go out  Blazing high in the sky Sun ray falls  Mercy from the sand he cries he calls  Like all things in life this too shall end  With the rain his soul begins to mend  Gratitude washes over…

By Margo Gillis Good morning my dear, how do you feel  Be cautious with your thoughts, they’re rarely real  Please remember to take your meds before you start to wane  I promise they’ll do their best to keep you sane  But when you’ve made it through, be patient with your brain  Please remember you’re on meds, your thoughts may refrain  From making any sense, due to the chemical imbalance  Oh, and don’t forget, when you chide yourself for being numb  Remind yourself of the time you nearly bit off your thumb  Trying to pull your mind away from the war raging inside  By forcing your body to set its survival…