What the Pope Said – a poem by Sarah A. Etlinger

What the Pope Said The Pope has said that hell doesn’t exist– souls only disappear. But your beautiful creases spread on mine; invisible except in the right conditions of temperature and light. At night, I glow in the dark: indelible patterns from your breath inked into my flesh, the living map of where we’ve been. […]

Disappearance – a poem by Scott Waters

Disappearance I tell the family I’m going for a walk up the beach alone breaths of fog steam under a limpid sun the grey strand as wide as a soccer field crumbly brown bluffs 30 feet high painted in rust, eggplant, dark green ice plants with purple flowers popping out a toddler runs from his […]

Naming the Trees – a poem by Coreen Hampson

Naming the Trees The mountain opens its mouth to speak. No one but the wind is listening. Guide books and maps open, the tourists talk about which mountain to climb and where to eat breakfast. The mountain closes, refusing to tell them anything. Talks to the wind instead. No one is listening other than an […]

Pink Lotus on Still Water – a poem by Marga Fripp

Pink Lotus on Still Water In my dream I battle water, muddy-gray torrents heaving fear over my sunken bedroom. I can’t swim, though I try. The waves rise and thicken, the stalks of my feet take root in a swamp. The wide-eyed baby clasped to my chest smiles. I am terrified for his life. No […]

The way the iris opens – a poem by Deborah Leipziger

The way the iris opens Ventricle by ventricle, releasing an internal map a propulsion from within emerging lavender and plum The way the iris closes is a reversal, a recoiling Slowly like a scroll of parchment, winding tight gathering its corners until — its veins visible — it becomes itself. Deborah Leipziger is an author, […]

Awakening – a poem by Ellen Austin-Li

Awakening “This sense of clean and beautiful newness within and without is one of the commonest entries in conversion records…And that such a glorious transformation as this ought of necessity to be preceded by despair …” -William James in The Varieties of Religious Experience Without ghost lines of turned-down pages, I pulled the unread book […]

Weakness – a poem by Rupert Loydell

Weakness Viv Albertine suggests, in retrospect, that ‘it’s a weakness to want to be adored’, and she’s probably right, but I’m trying to square it with Jean Vanier’s short piece about ‘how to lose power’. Immersing himself in the daily life of the disadvantaged and disabled, he no longer has to pretend that he’s […]

To the Rock Artist – a poem by Anne Dunford

To the Rock Artist It seemed almost indecent to take away the sods that clothed your carvings. After years of burial we exposed you to the sky revealing all, bit by bit. We, in our ‘civilised’ world wonder, what of us will remain thousands of years hence? The soil and turf replaced, your work once […]

Tsunami Morning – a poem by Mark Tulin

Tsunami Morning Just like any other day, I awoke bright and early. I had my buttered toast, Half & Half in my coffee. I kissed my wife goodbye, the dog gave a wag of his tail, promised my twin daughters I’d make it to their dance recital. Opened the door and got carried away by […]

The Cricket’s Silence – a poem by Lily Thomas

The Cricket’s Silence Please, do not quit on my account. Do not let my presence be so daunting that it stifles your song. No, dear friend, resume your tune. My eardrums long to be stirred by your music, like a zephyr on the leas in mid-May. Be silent no more, little one. The evening sky […]