sprovence
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S. Seybold, Tornado Season
Sarah Seybold Tornado Season Freight trains roar over the trailer roof. The light above the stove went out. Terrified, I huddled under covers, my little sister asleep beside me. Without seeing her or hearing her voice, I felt my mom’s presence in the dark as she rifled through my messy dresser where I kept the…
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T. Faye Haefner, To Daughter
Tresha Faye Haefner To Daughter After Jacqueline LyonsTo daughter is to duty.To swear loyalty to the country of your parents.To believe without quotation.To populate each passport with the sayings of your feet.To daughter is to speak the language of the father,to darn the worries of the mother. To drive the oxen into the wilderness,feeding on…
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T. Faye Haefner, Egg
Tresha Faye Haefner Egg I felt in need of a long journey, so I sat still for three days. – Hafiz I felt in need of a long journeyso I watched the snake break from its diamond -colored egg and slither through several new skins. I felt in need to learn a new languageso I…
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L. C. Luzajic, Pantone: North Africa
Lorette C. Luzajic Pantone: North Africa The souk, jasmine and cinnamon. Gentle brine on the breeze, and orange blossoms, and blush wine. I stretched out like a starfish in my raspberry brocade bed at my east gate hotel. The ceiling was a labyrinth of flowers. I asked my hosts if I could borrow a corkscrew:…
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R. Turner, return to the questions
Robin Turner return to the questions Robin Turner makes poems and poem-like things in Dallas. Her chapbooks: bindweed & crow poison (Porkbelly Press) and Elegy with Clouds & (Kelsay Books). Recent work appears in Anacapa Review, Unlost, and Pithead Chapel. She is a teaching artist currently working with writers from the Cancer Support Community of…
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J. Angela Edwins, We Put the Chickens Away
Jo Angela Edwins We Put the Chickens Away Last Night and Couldn’t Find Grace first sentence of a social media post and we led the cows to the barn and lost all hope,and while latching the horse stalls we looked for love,but it was nowhere to be found, even in the penwhere the pigs grunted…
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K. Baum DeBeasi, Flight
Kristen Baum DeBeasi Flight An enthusiasm of pigeons takes to air, wings beating a bravi, bravia grazie for the crumbs cast by passing handof human with the eyesto see the exultant chorus, to witness the joy of gathering, congregating, murmurating, the simple pleasure of soaring Kristen Baum DeBeasi writes poems, stories, and music. She has…
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J. Prinsen, Simile
Jeannie Prinsen Simile Darting from bush to tree, the cardinal looks like a scarlet fish swimming through blue water, its wings a blurof fins. Wind rustling in treetops sometimes sounds like new rain. For a few moments at least, dawncan be mistaken for twilight.Things resemble other things,that’s no surprise. But in the end, we need…
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E. Ann Walker, Cardinal Phonetics
Elinor Ann Walker Cardinal Phonetics If cardinals symbolize visitors from another realm, souls populate trees at dusk, linger last at my feeders & fountains, hunger & thirst the longest. I saw twelve silhouetted in crape myrtles, crests & beaks arrowed against sky, the only birds still out. What does that suggest of souls? Or how…
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P. Cashorali, A Single Green Leaf
Peter Cashorali This World is a Single Green Leaf As vast as fragile,As present as unlikely,Growing by the side Of one of its own roads,Its root hid underOur amazement,That someone we knewOnce told us about,That we took on faith or notUntil we saw itFirst time ourselves. Peter Cashorali is a neurodivergent queer psychotherapist in private…