“Gipsy Dark” by Tony Ashenden

And not until the doors are shut sky black and bird-less   does he appear from out the noise of busy roads into the quiet   unwatched.   Only when the rooks abed caw-less in the beech dark trees and spiders spin from bush to bush does he arrive in the given hour ghost like…

“We Circle Home” by Cindy Georgakas

In loving embrace, We circle home. Circling round in spirals centrifugal force.   Merging hearts dance, where love comes together in sweet celebration.   Circling forward and backwards, always connecting to source and each other. Holding hands through the hemisphere’s magnetic field, Our guiding light to humanity.   Always in love, as we circle home…

“Legacy” by Shalini Kathuria Narang

Bench in a park has a dedication, in memory of a loved relation. Honoring departed ones is an old tradition, Motivation can be a connection, a perpetuation. Relationships do not end with the passing of a person, Sometimes, it can even stir deep latent emotion, Propelling new work and action, To carry on a loved…

“La Sirène des égoûts” by Myriam DesCendres

A collaboration with Lilly o’Wisp….. What could she have done? How indeed would she simply exist?   Even frolicking bare feet In the mud on the road And the cold and the sleet   “We love from all our heart We love in our body We need to love oneself in all intimacy”   The…

“War” by Michelle Ayon Navajas

(… based on a true story) Ehsan had to endure his father’s outrage whenever he came home drunk. He’d beat him so hard he could barely walk the next day. Worst, he’d always miss school because of this.   His father is an excellent provider. He sent them to an outstanding school and provided them…

“Care Packages” by Jeff Flesch

I remember when you played with time and with consciousness a heart holding an alcove of memories amid strings bent by the dubious looking sea awash in pain and in possibility reminders of times gone by and of times yet to be triggering an avalanche of emotions — care packages of a seed destined to…

“Sunbeam Alpine III” by Helena Marie

From here you are small. I see you – faux leather and white; slotted wheels that hold us safe, take us through cities, miles tossed away like something already forgotten; night cut by the beam of your yellow lights – circles of chrome, foxed with age, keep us steady through gears; the wide throat of…

“THE MEDICAL VERSES (Part 1)” by Francisco Bravo Cabrera

………listening to Paganini   The day approaches, the night has gone, and the light of all those suns is climbing the peaks of the far mountains. Who will pick up the darkness, fold it like a blanket and lay it at the foot of the bed?   Where have those hours gone? Where has the…

“Evening at the Mosque” by Dawn Pisturino

I dressed in fine silk To meet you in the garden After evening prayer. My smile burst through my gauzy veils, My eyes burned as brightly as the stars Kissing the minaret, My happiness flooded the mosque With the holiest of incense when we met in the crowd. Our eyes united in mutual longing, Our…

“What Lay Beneath” by Julie A. Dickson

Creamy white atop pink blouse, a pale shell I knew what lay beneath would be just as pink but I agree that just to imagine it was just as provocative if not more than the bare equivalent.   Lately, she turns away while changing, not modesty exactly, more self-conscious of her aging body, not knowing…

“Anything is Everything” by Ivor Steven

During my morning walk Every step I took hurt I know Striding through the pain Moves me forward Toward certain gain   In the pool this afternoon Every stroke I took hurt I know Swimming through the pain Pushes me forwar To the end of my lane   Anything I do hurts Everything I achieve…

“Spring is late” by Nolcha Fox and Barbara Leonhard

and flowers burst light-speed to bask in summer sun. The bees are drunk, they swerve insane on nectar sweet. Hollyhocks raise their gypsy skirts, last flowers, blooming just in time to greet The autumn winds. I’ve dallied long enough, delayed my day to blossom. The hollyhocks dance with bees. I primp in the violet sun….

“Re-Create & Celebrate: A Review” by Barbara Leonhard

Note: This review is best read online or on the WordPress app, not the Jetpack app, which destroys the view. Cindy Georgakas’ new book, Re-Create & Celebrate (EIF – Experiments in Fiction, 2023), definitely fits the theme. The book is a manual for the soul. I wish I had had this book when I was…

“My father’s kitchen” by Sam Moe

Smooth amber tiles heated from stove steam, someone else’s dog eating from my plate, the swinging door mutes half the shouting. I tickle the candle in the center, wonder again about the passed, whether her grave is covered in flowers or layered with food. If he knew better he’d bring candles. My mother, in a…

“WINTER LIPS” By Richard M. Ankers

The seething heat made a false sea fret of the meadows. I had to stop myself from throwing stones into the imagined waves. The sun was up there somewhere, its solar radiation tearing through the atmosphere to drain my every fluid, as though reclaiming the atoms we stole from it at birth as sweat, then…

“May Day Memories” by Cindy Georgakas

Memories live in colorful ribbons held by giddy girls, in yellow skirts, boys in suspenders and white shirts, with swords of course!   Boys will be boys. Gather round and celebrate. It’s time to kick up our heels.  Sing and dance in circles, in joyous childhood fun.    Those that held us up to clear a…

“Becoming Like You, Ma” by Shalini Kathuria Narang

I am becoming more like you Ma, I fear less and feel more, sulk less and smile more, judge less and juggle more. I am becoming more like you Ma, I say yes more and less nah, delight at small pleasures with aha, prefer to be quiet than blah blah. I am becoming more like…

”Mother” by Michelle Ayon Navajas

(….a true story with the names changed) Emotional and behavioral problems in children are more common when their parents are fighting or separating. Children can become very insecure. Insecurity can cause children to behave like they are much younger; nightmares, worries or disobedience can all occur. These are normal scenarios among young children. And, at…

“Sunshine and Peach Blossoms” by Nancy Jo Allen

Their intense love was magnified by the symbolism of the letter that arrived in white folds, with dark script. It described a clear blue sky, and a vast orchard of pink peach blossoms he said matched the blush of her cheeks.   She imagined his blue uniform and brass buttons rise and fall with each…

“Morning Majesty” By Jeff Flesch

I race against the clock nowhere to be and no one awaiting to knock me down a realization steeped in life’s everlasting tea are concoctions of the seen and unseen and the majesty of mornings binding two lovers inhabiting the same space in between all that was is, and will eventually be Copyright © 2023…