Practice Makes Perfect

by on May 9, 2017

mother intoned,
thumping time on the side of the piano
with her ruler
while I struggled at the keys.
So I practiced the art of magic
(deception, we shall call it)
like  turning water to ice under a silk scarf,
and coaxing my mad dogs under the table
to silence their whimper.
They, accustomed to spaces
dark and deep, began to sleep.

Once in a dream
I carried a dead child on my shoulders
as I crept down the night hall
to the stygian mirror,  expecting to see
a snarling beast with plundered eyes.
But there was no image
in the silvered shadows.
The hair on the backs of the dogs
began to rise.

But practice makes
permanent,
While I practiced the art of the silk scarf,
and perfected the image of coolness,
the mad dogs rose, growled
and shook their chains.

 

—
Elizabeth Vrenios has had poetry featured in such online poetry columns as: Clementine, Kentucky Review, Form Quarterly, Scissors and Spackle and in issues of The Binnacle, Poeming Pidgeon Unsplendid and The Edison Review. Her prize-winning chapbook, Special Delivery was published by Yellow Chair Press in the spring of 2016.  She is a Professor Emerita from American University, and has spent most of her life performing as a singing artist across Europe and the United States.

whiteout

by on May 8, 2017

 

—
Marianne Paul is a Canadian novelist and poet who recently transitioned to short-form poetry, primarily haiku, senryu, haiga and haibun. She was the winner of the 2016 Jane Reichhold Memorial Haiga Competition, multi-media category. Read more of her writing on twitter @mariannpaul, and on her website literarykayak.com.

long night moon

by on May 5, 2017

 

long night moon
the old clock
ticks louder

 

—
Deborah P Kolodji is the California Regional Coordinator for the Haiku Society of America, the moderator of the Southern California Haiku Study Group, and a member of the Board of Directors for Haiku North America.  Having published over 900 haiku over the last 15 years, her first full-length collection, highway of sleeping towns, was recently published by Shabda Press.

Song for Awe & Dread

by on May 4, 2017

(Watch Tommy Becker‘s video “Song for Awe & Dread” on Vimeo)

 

—
Tommy Becker is a poet trapped in a camcorder. He’s screened work at Zebra Poetry Film Festival and Visible Verse Film Festival among other national and international film festivals. He writes the poetry, records the video, writes the music and does all the editing to create short music video poems. It’s a DIY process at tommybecker.com.

The Two Ends

by on May 3, 2017

I kept losing my pencils at school. At first, dad would cut each pencil in half. Then mom threatened to tie the half-pencil to my button.

autumn pile
every leaf
finds its place

 

—
Shrikaanth Krishnamurthy is a psychiatrist from Bengaluru India,  living in England. A trained vocalist and a composer in Indian Classical Music, he writes in Kannada, Sankethi, Tamil and English languages. His haikai writings have been published in reputed journals and anthologies and won prizes, worldwide. He is currently the Editor of the Blithe Spirit, journal of The British Haiku Society.

The Island

by on May 1, 2017

Kristin-who-cuts-my-hair describes her sweet
honeymoon in the Bahamas. She *Snip*

says it was a telephone offer. Who
in their right mind would? But they did.

In the mirror, behind blue Barbicide,
she shapes thin sheets of hair as she talks.

But she’s only a blur—her island grows,
luxurious, through my reflection. Later, home,

and the Weather shows a swirling egg yolk,
red as a dragon’s eye, aimed at the Bahamas.

Someone told me once: Don’t go to Paris,
it’s not there. And if you loved the book,

don’t see the movie, ever. Untroubled by storms,
Kristin’s green lizards smile on from pink walls.

 

—
Barbara Young hasn’t been writing much this year. East Nashville got too popular, so she and Jim packed up the cats and moved out to White Bluff. A grocery, two hardware stores, and a bakery that only makes doughnuts. Change is interesting. Because writing prompts can be easier than poems, Barbara sometimes becomes “Miz Quickly.”

snow angel

by on Apr 28, 2017

 

snow angel
two sticks from the woodpile
and a butterfly

 

—
Tom Sacramona is a poet living in Plainville, Massachusetts. He is grateful to have haiku published in journals, such as bottle rockets, Mayfly and Modern Haiku. Sacramona is a member of the Boston Haiku Society and the Haiku Society of America.  Learn more about haiku: Visit his blog at tomsacramona.wordpress.com

Landmine in a Field of Flowers

by on Apr 27, 2017

(Watch Matt Mullins’ video “Landmine in a Field of Flowers” on Vimeo)

 

—
Matt Mullins writes and makes videopoems, music, and digital/interactive literature. His work has screened at various festivals in the United States and throughout the world including Visible Verse, Zebra, Videobardo, Liberated Words, Rabbit Heart, and Co-Kisser. He has published poetry and fiction in numerous print and online journals, and is the author of the short story collection Three Ways of the Saw (Atticus Books). You can engage his interactive/digital literary interfaces at lit-digital.com.

Avoidance

by on Apr 26, 2017

Waiting for catastrophe
I keep busy with things
that don’t matter,
avoid starting what
I might not finish,
try not to mourn,
or spend myself in rage,
wasting energies
I can’t replace.
Grief will come
when I think I have
outrun it.
I already have too many
sympathy cards
and sleepless hours enough
to find thousands
of bad endings
that become easier and easier
to imagine.

 

—
Mary McCarthy has always been a writer, but spent most of her working life as a Registered Nurse. Her work has appeared in many online and print journals, including Earth’s Daughters, Gnarled Oak, Third Wednesday and Three Elements Review. Her echapbook Things I Was Told Not To Think About is available through Praxis magazine online as a free download. She is grateful for the wonderful online communities of writers and poets sharing their work and passion for writing, providing a rich world of inspiration, appreciation, and delight.