by Vera

Another Step with the Flame - by Vera

She held it aloft,
the sparking torch,
tripping forward
through schist
with moments of trepidation
and obvious frustration
and love
and persistence
and humorous castration.

Another edit done.
A magnificent feat.

And now
for some dark chocolate
and gardening.

by Thalia

Oy! Big big big deadline coming up for my next novel, so you will hear naught from me in the next two weeks. Notice I'm not even tryin' to make this poetic? Middle of next week I will be working simply in grunts and hand motions. Words will be gonzo......

See you in a bit! Keep stopping by!

~Thalia

by Jill

Farming - by Jill


The worst frickin thing
you can be told to do
when you are
already
angry
is "Weed the beans."

But Mom's particular ferocity
sent me out
to the hammering sun,
where I sat on my butt
scootching downrow
as I pulled tiny leaflets,
and dontcha know,
two hours later
riding the rhythm of the earth
I didn't mind
the ant on my ankle
the sweat on my neck
the way Jessup taunted me that
I was going to fail French.

Mothers are so
right.

Mocker Perspective - by Lynne

Difficult to balance
yourself
with that.

Difficult to be on watch,
swiveling your head
with a branch that big.

Difficult to sing
so intricate a melody
with a branch that big
slanting from your beak.

Or maybe just
difficult
if you are not a mockingbird.

by Vera

Call Back Tomorrow - by Vera

There it is
spewed over the desk,
papers and sticky notes and adjectives,
all chasing each other
in parabolic paths
so she can
congeal it
mold it
soothe it
before deadline
into a novel.

And it's all about me.
Hah!

by Cara

Really Big Maybe Stinkbug - by Cara

I'm not touchin it!
Marco says that
Brianna says that
her brother got stank up by that bug,
and I don't know
what it's real name is
but it's for sure
a real stink bug.

If you touch it
it lifts up its butt and
sprays you
like Presto's gang did with the fire hydrant
last summer,
only stinkier,
Marco says,
stink like burning tires and dog puke.

Careful!
It's walking this way!

Sure is big.
And shiny black
like someone's been buffin him.
Like Sancho does on his duelly.

Kind of pretty.

Well,
I don't know if
it's for sure that bug
like Marco says,
but I'm not chancin it.

You touch it.

by Marvo

Blockhead - by Marvo

So her dad asked me to come over,
right?
and lay some block with him.

And I don't know anything about
laying concrete block,
but it's Lorna's dad,
right?

So I am saying yes
without thinking,
and we plan for today
and I borrow leather gloves
from DeVito
and I'm pretty on top of it all,
because I get to spend the day
around Lorna,
working and helping her dad.

But when I drive up,
he tells me
Lorna's upstate for the weekend
with her older sister.

And then he sends me home,
right?
to change into jeans
instead of
shorts.

I don't know what I'm doing.

And I've gotta do it
my whole
Saturday.