Mary of the Rotten Heart – a poem by Jessie Lynn McMains

Mary of the Rotten Heart O Mary of the Lake Goddess of the Empty Cathedral the cathedral with roof of sky-cerulean roof of sky-black pinpricked by far-off leaking light the cathedral which molders only opens for funerals and midnight masses presided over by your acolytes Father Turkey Vulture, choir-boy bats how they sing so sweet […]

To Each Her Saint – a poem by Carolyn Martin

To Each Her Saint Canonize? The prize for two miracles. Not much to ask, considering. Someone walks upright, banishes unruly cells, faces off the voices in her head, stops a river’s rise: triumphs claimed in an almost-saint’s name. For those of us who dismiss titles and candles lit on flowered altars in a namesake church, […]

After the Funeral Service – a poem by Peggy Turnbull

After the Funeral Service Long-haired men lift the casket, carry it through the church’s double doors. The congregation sings, “Onward, Christian Soldiers.” A vibration begins in my throat. I think I hear a bat navigating the rafters, echolocating while waves of sound surround it and the coffin. Melody travels where we cannot. Its frequencies intersect […]

Hail, Sunday – a poem by Carolyn Oulton

Hail, Sunday It was hail out of nowhere, sleet, slush, rain. The usual February conversation. Not the one where I say my brother’s friend fancied himself in 1993 and of course my mother tells my brother, so then I don’t know whether I need to apologise or explain. If I had any sense I’d leave […]

Reckoning – a reflection by Mary Ellen Gambutti

Reckoning I study tinted images of children clambering onto Jesus’ lap in my compact, white prayer book, while Mom and Dad focus on Mass. As a four year old, I’m introduced to kindness, reverence, and mystery, and a lifetime of questions begins. My first grade class recites rote from Baltimore Catechism: Who made you? God […]

God’s Eyes Were Watching Theirs – a poem by Cody Rukasin

God’s Eyes Were Watching Theirs God said: they cannot be saved; black, white, blue, grey nature should preserve itself elsewhere, since peace cannot be attained, since war cannot be arraigned… He took an axe to the Tree, and as it fell, every color caught on a single bough, on an edge sharper than any wisdom. […]

The Door Finder – a poem by Wayne-Daniel Berard

The Door Finder you can tell by their step rather than their voice hesitant or barely unpanicked they often stop just before or pass just beyond me before turning asking “where is the door?” sometimes out sometimes in but I can show them I am motze hadelet the door finder the walk around the […]

Post-Procedure Prayer – a poem by Peggy Turnbull

Post-Procedure Prayer After Barbara Hamby Comfort me, warm swarm of air, perfumed by newly mown grass– sweetly surround my swollen jaw. In my dentist’s parking lot, wrap aromatic fronds around my hurting places, tease me with the hint of lavish glamour you exude. The sky swells with romantic promise from your secret holds. Dribble your […]

Half Way up Etna – a poem by Simon Fletcher

Half Way up Etna “Mind is the spell which governs earth and heaven” Empedocles on Etna, (Act 1, Scene 2) Matthew Arnold I’ve come this far, my mind is clear; there’s nothing left to savour now, and though a death in Etna’s fire is fearful yet I’ve made my choice. My many friends have counselled […]

When Spring Happens – a poem by Carolyn Oulton

When Spring Happens There are bluebells the colour of ink. A dog stops and waits, head over its shoulder, not really looking. This is what I came for, the dimmed light of the wood, blurring of blue and brown into green. God didn’t say much. Something like, Remember before it happens, I told you it […]