By Bri Ross I am Stardust, not cold nor hotI am the constellations of the night sky, bright and dancing among the darknessWith light, I am goneWith the Sun’s set and the Moon’s rise, I find myself dancing once moreI am the Earth, not here nor thereI am the grass that lies below your feet, standing never goneWith winter, I grow dormantWith the spring, I grow once moreI am the Sea, going and comingI am the River who gives your lifeWith the cold, I become jagged and harshWith heat, I bring drought and famineI am…

By Jordan Hales Your love grew with Me, and my heart Is covered in stars. Every wish of mine Came true with you. Love’s funny that way. A love like yours Could make a girl Look up and dream. Dreams of every possibility. Dreams of such peace. Dreams of utter understanding. A love like yours Makes a girl put Pen to paper, yes. Yes, that’s what you Have done for me. Such peace of mind. The space to grow Alongside you for better. Twin flames. Twin vines. Reigniting a spark destined To blow out. Space Finally, finally, to breathe. To write all those Words once locked up. Forgotten. Unused. Discarded.…

By Jordan Hales I’ve always been afraid of the dark. What a cliche, I suppose.  It just never sat right with me. Never alongside me. Always my opposed.   I try never to be in the dark without a nightlight. You just never know what might getcha.   The dark can be quite loud, if you ask me. Whispering turns to yelling. And it’s eerie, right?   It’s unnerving when I can’t see two feet in front of me. Not knowing what’s in reach, or what’s not.   The noise that festers in the dark is so unwelcoming. So… unhinged.  And that fear and discomfort? It builds and it builds, until something is right…

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 Laura Ditto I’m chased into a waltz by Whitman,  while Wilde hounds my head.  Their words live on in memory,  even when they are long dead.    As I sit in stupor,  and writing wracks my brain,  I remember those who came before,  and begin to feel quite sane.    Sappho taught me how to love,  Poe showed me my grief,  Service gifted nature,  and they all gave me relief.    I live by words unspoken  and leave my own to pages.  Perhaps if someone finds them,  they too will live for ages.   If Homer told traditions,  and Shakespeare defined play,  then words create beginnings  that never shall decay. …

By Pansy Alakayak Thank you snow, evolving is your presence,  You and Mother Earth – what an essence.  Snowflake and Snowshoe, wholly and true  Hoarfrost on elders heads, oh yes they grew.  Ancient dog musher and snowmachines too,  What would they do without you!  Climate change ravage, affecting all of you.  Please don’t leave us, forever be true!  Snow forever, you are pure and white.  Please continue to come in your time.  You are amazing and beautiful,  In your everlasting time. 

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…