Thistles in full blossom. I always hated those professional weeders. For a split second you direct the flame towards this butterfly.
blistering heat
the bamboo dragon
gives me a nod
Eva Limbach
The People Next Door
I can never be sure what the people next door are doing. The cause of the shouting and screaming is left to my imagination. An inexplicable banging continues way into the evening. Once I heard them saw off the leg of one of their boys, well, that is what it sounded like – the screaming. But the following day, I saw both boys running about on all four of their legs. And then there’s the dog . . .
summer breeze
the smell of my neighbour’s
dog poo
Martha Magenta
Night Fishing
I saw five patients today, most of whom were only there for medication refills. One very typical lady’s doctor recognized she had become chemically dependent on her anxiety medication and switched her to another, non-habit-forming medicine. She didn’t like that and told him, “If you don’t give me the medicine I want, I will go to the emergency room and get it from them.”
So in she walked to see me.
night fishing,
hook in the inky sea;
fish jump into my boat
behind
Eric Lohman
Donor
She pokes the needle in my arm. My blood fills one vial, and then a second. “I feel faint”, I tell her as everything goes black.
moon walk
the weightlessness
of shade
Dave Read
(no title)
The saddest part, for me, is your autism did not protect you from schizophrenia. Ordinarily I would attribute everything you did to that, your first diagnosis – but what am I to do with this? You remembered me from Christmas Eve, saying hi with a wave (yeah?) and your funky brummie upturned stare (yeah?). It was a simple assignment, one only half completed as the neighbors told police you approached them in confusion as to why it was taking so long to circle the block, having to drag so hard on the leash and your charge laying there, resisting with every inch of his still-warm side along the ground. It was a miracle (yeah?) you thought (yeah?) his thick, furry neck managed to fit in your hands.
the therapist listens–
becomes another
choking victim
Eric Lohman
The Prophet
“It was never you,” she sneered at me. “You were a vessel, a conduit. There haven’t been seers for thousands of years. Get over yourself and move on.”
desert moon
visions of death
on the windshield
Dave Read
Angler
Of all of Dad’s fishing gear, his net is my favourite. It’s huge! It’s so big, in fact, I’m certain I could fit inside. I’d love to crawl in, wait him out, and sneak a ride on his next big trip. How surprised he’d be to find me out at sea!
rag doll
combing her hair
after chemo
Dave Read
2 works by Pat Geyer
Through the Looking Glass
watching schoolkids vajazzle their insides with bottled sugar Justin Bieber and stuff on their smartphones I’ll never understand I don my headband and plunge back into a Wonderland of warm school milk rationed tv and phone box queueing in the rain
afternoon play
I pinch myself
over and over
Helen Buckingham
3 works
Brendan Slater
the other bunny 