Hidden Dreams by Jeff Flesch

There are dreams hidden within buildings towering upon hills and beneath the surface of the sky a transparent beauty escaping from time’s paradoxical ties leaving memories as whispers of what was once you and I -JEFF FLESCH Jeff Flesch lives in Corvallis, Oregon, and was voted the 2022 Spillwords Press Author of the Month for…

Cover Me by A J Wilson

undress me furnish me with pure alcohol caffeine is too temperate for me as are the sermons at the rectory where the laity get high on preaching but lectures will not save me or them merely leave me grasping rasping for oxygen rich air just cover me over that’s my only prayer. -A J WILSON…

Baudelaire by Dawn Pisturino

when i saw you there lying on the cold stone slab your virgin beauty pure as white marble i remembered why i loved you and all the promises we made you no longer see me except in dreams far away you no longer hear me except when celestial angels open your ear with a golden…

Nostalgia by Shobana Gomes

The shimmer of the setting sun glistens against crimson clouds, its façade, unblemished. The lighthouse stands regal, as a stoic witness. The waters create a contrasting veneer on an evening of nostalgia. Nothing can disturb its peace, not even eager tides beating against quiet sands. People have walked, embracing, on those tacit sands. There came…

Known Before Death by Joni Caggiano

ennoble the chaste grandeur words wrap around my neck like a quill and crimson shawl sincere lexes, gilded stardust my heart lay bare to nameless shall you leave me in meadows or make a crown of gardenias to lay upon a place of dubious rest or will this poet’s heart pass the test -JONI CAGGIANO…

Hope by Grace Y. Estevez-Reddy

Swallow my sadnesslike it is a pill.Exposing my heartI stumble, it spills. Swift hollow dulled pain,consuming my chest.My smile shining bright,inside I need rest. Shadow of my soulhaunts me to the core.The more I receivefurther, I deplore. Wallow in dim pride,a well-disguised ploy.To keep worries far,behave like a toy. Mirrored reflection,intently I stare.See my younger…

The Speeding Train by Shobana Gomes

A little girl of six She sits legs folded beneath her Watching for the speeding train, As it whizzes past her She is enthralled by its speed and time is lost to her within the seconds of its speed -SHOBANA GOMES Shobana Gomes lives in sunny Malaysia. She believes that poetry is a culmination of…

Coal Dust by Jeff Flesch

diamond-like resilience made from coal dust and a little bit of luck from the sun creates flowers blooming in the garden of my heart I trust the calmness of the rain pervading the vacuum of my soul preparing me I bear witness to things out of my control and to the sky always holding me…

What is Beauty to You? by Shobana Gomes

What is beauty to you? he once asked me. We stood among the flowers, on a hill where sunrises never set. The day remained gloriously endowed by all that charmed. I stared ahead at the wonder of it all. Would a question like that require a tender heart, or would it be in passing that…

A Poet’s Right by Don Matthews

OK I might not write Top-class poetry So what? I get a kick out Of writing just for me To me I’ve always thought that Poets basically Write poetry to please themselves And not for you or me But if you/me or anyone Like what they’re writing down Simple, trite or otherwise We follow them…

Table for Three by Cassa Bassa

I try to look through the foggy glass windowpane to a far away escape.My agony drowns in the absence of tears and apologies.Questions rushing through my fragile mind.The endless waiting, the future without our past, the changed heart without warning, the intrusion of our love, all these heartaches I can’t put into words. None of…

Self-Forgiveness by Grace Y. Estevez – Reddy

With lowered eyesand a hushed mouth,silence my sighs,while in mid route. Plastered smiles fly,push sorrows down.Happy disguise,covers deep frowns. Frantic inside,loud voices shout,hurt and chastised,in and throughout. Draw breath in tight,knees hit the ground,faith flows up high,angelic sounds. Sweat beads baptize,hopes swirl around,wishes arise,dissolving clouds. Stop to reviseregrets and doubts.Life provides light,that clear and sprout….

And then there was Solace by Shobana Gomes

And then there was solace, Here where the sun’s light trail, Between trees, On the fallen leaves, Caressing my uplifted face, Seeking silence, Of the quieted woods. I have watched its touch, heal the wounds, of tree barks, of the surviving leaves, that lay un-crumbled  upon the ground, where I sit, unperturbed by the, undisturbed….

Touch and Taste by Jeff Flesch

every little touch, and taste takes me to another place desire afire, living inside the tranquility of the seas with dark blue and indigo too a backdrop of the love inside our truth they live in the skies burnt amber, and copper filled jewels, raining down love on me and you -JEFF FLESCH Jeff grew…

Enigma by Joni Caggiano

fading, my heart envisions a ripe fig molting tan skin lying like a sad mason jar empty, left alone, with a scar odors float like memories sparrows sing their hope your face a repeat movie reel fingers weep aching to feel your body folding into mine tears of laughter jumping rolling over hills of bare…

AQUA – Part 3

(A short story in Vietnamese by Trần Băng Khuê, translation into English by Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm) PART 1- PART 2- PART 3- I took Aqua to a forest full of soothing leaves and lullabies. I took Aqua to my forest that particular day, the forest bed was thick with fallen leaves. But as they…