Saturday, January 31, 2015

Two Poems by Joanna M. Weston


when I slept
with you the nights
filled with sunlight

now I sleep alone
my dreams chase
a jeering voice

The Farewell

when rain stopped
when wind ceased
then came grief
deep below hurt

the leaving and goodbye
at the open door
before the closing
before the car-start

motion down driveway
vanish along road
to emptiness
of sky  earth  self


Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Three Poems by Linda M. Crate


you reduce me to
harpy cries
shrieking fury and revenge
for you know
nothing of love which
you claimed you had for me,
and i hope you
the fire of my eyes as you
lay with her;
hope you
remember the way i smiled,
and the fragrance of my
once a cheat
always a cheat because
you're not sincere
enough to make a change
you only want
comes easily
and one day you'll see
you were wrong
about me;
i know you think you had
the best of me,
but that's yet to come
don't think like caroline because
your crap does smell;
and your body
is not the ancient adonis
beautiful and maintained
you're just a fallen
whose forgotten his warmth
simply to manufacture
a carbon copy of the
word into being--
you are a
holding yourself erect so
proudly and you
claim your love for God,
but it is false
as evidenced by the
way you treat people and
the way you treated
tell me little, liar,
was i ever beautiful to you
or would any girl
have done?
but what does it matter now
all these winters
in the end you will
get yours and that
shallow love you gave me
will fuck you over
nothing is left
but a broken heart, a shard of a soul.

no little red

one day
i'm the dish, the doll you
you want and a week later you
stop returning my
i was fine before you walked into
my life
why did you have to play with
my heart and toy with my
i don't have time for little boys
and their games
i have places to go and dreams to
follow, and if i have to walk
without you that's
fine by me just don't act like you
love me or you care when
you don't;
because i'm beyond furious
with you--
told me you weren't fake but i should have known
better if you weren't then why would you
have to tell me?
won't waste another thought on you
because i have a life to live
so go play,
because i'm no little red riding hood.


they told me one day you'd
severing my heart into a thousand
painful galaxies
of flames
that took forever to reunite again
as one,
but i don't know if i believe them
for you to regret anything
you'd have to care
you obviously didn't;
not when you lost me so easily--
wish i could just drop
these memories of you in the trash
like i did all the things you
gave me,
but my mind is a pandora's box
pricking me on pins and
needles and all the thorns that
sing your name;
i don't know how men like you live with
yourselves so false and fake and
gave you my first flowers
and that's not something i can get back,
but you didn't even care
so i hope one day the flames which you used
to tear my pretty little red heart
apart burn you instead
until nothing
remains not even a memory.


Monday, January 26, 2015

A Poem by James Mirarchi


Laptop in the dark
A digital ogre
Breathing out snow white data
Freezing everything
With its soulless intellect

Chalky and nude
In computer's moonlight
Two men on futon
Writhe like thick pythons
Knotted erotically - and adversarially

They are randy pinball machines
(A plunger-spring here - a flashing target there)
Empty readouts flicker
Across their drunken faces

These lovers devour
Into each other's numb circuits
TRYING to find an emotional buzz within flesh
But to no avail

They eventually "shut down"
(sigh like steam-emitting engines)
And make each other a wee hour breakfast
Some espresso
Gives them the high
They were previously searching for

Farewell comes
When these two men
Go their separate ways
Folding each other up
Just like their handy laptops
But, they are, alas, HUMAN

James Mirarchi grew up in Queens, New York.  In addition to his poetry collections, Venison and Dervish, he has written and directed short films which have played festivals.  His poems have appeared in several independent literary journals.  Links to his work can be found at

Saturday, January 10, 2015

A Poem by Michael Lee Johnson


I have seen your eyes roam
over me so many times,
I don't even bother to feel
them anymore.
One can speak with the eyes,
you know--
and you've been silent
for so long
it doesn't even hurt anymore
to see you staring at me--
and not uttering a word.


Follow Michael Lee Johnson On:

Thursday, January 8, 2015

A Poem by Paul Bernstein


Daybreak.  Turning
in bed I reach out
to emptiness.  Every day
begins in darkness.
Every night in dreams
I open up to you
too late and wilt
and wake up twisted,
a broken flower
searching in vain
for the morning sun.

Paul Bernstein, in previous lives, was a graduate student in medieval history, library worker/antiwar activist/weekend hippie/aspiring poet, radical journalist, medical editor, and managing editor of a medical journal.  He resumed writing poetry some fifteen years ago.  Recent work has appeared in Big River Poetry Journal, River Poets Review, Poetry Quarterly, Front Porch Review, U.S. 1 Worksheets, Magic Lantern and elsewhere.  He currently lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he participates regularly in open mic readings.