Dilemma
By Iliya Ansky - Contributing Poet

We are standing by the conveyor belt
Eager to claim our own baggage
As the overwrought a/c persistently blows
Agreeable weather upon our heads
In this non-smoking terminal hall
I instinctively ask myself
Who are those gung-ho pale tourists
Going to get possessed by
Once they are out there
In the melon-white heat
A dybbuk or a djinny?

[Email This Item]

-ism
By Chris Butler - Contributing Poet

This ignorance
gives birth to
optimistic bliss;

convictive indecisions,
with precise incisions
of blind, deaf and
dumb justice,
to sacrifice saviors
with no known
nemesis, for the
gift of an angel's
instant kiss;

unintelligent design
funding common
nonsensical madness
and incoherent truths;

a meaningless existence
of meaningful extinction,
drastic distinction between

pessimistic
--isms,
systems
to believe in

across an
endless/
nameless
universe.

[Email This Item]

The Vietnam Experience
By Frank James Davis - Contributing Poet

Once,
I went to war;
seeking purpose and glory--
finding neither.
Killed human beings
of every size; defending
my country against an attack
on another country.
Knew shirt-sopping fear,
anger, indifference;
finally, madness.
I hunted down the Godless
savage; slaughtered him;
became him.
Once, I went to war.

[Email This Item]

Ring on the Second Hand
By Brandon Swarrow - Contributing Poet

Time flies by is cliché you know,
Hey, where did that last minute go?
Are you better, are you wiser?
Make an effort to surprise her?

Twas' precious then, forgotten now
As good a time to make a vow
A minute longer waste no more
Aging, saying you're "just plain bored"

"Forever's" new profound lush tone
Marks each moment a new milestone
Idleness stops eyes open wide
Revealing bright and polished diamonds

It's beautiful to laugh and smile
Take a forbidden chance right now
Life ticks and talks and waves goodbye
Achieve love most before you die

[Email This Item]

The Machine
By Carl Alles - Contributing Poet

When color has no meaning
Hot and cold have no feeling
And time doesn't seem to change

When day turns to night
And it's all black and white
Everything feels so strange

When I walk down the street
I just follow my feet
And try to see through the fog

Though I wish it wasn't true
There isn't much I can do
But I too will be a gear or a cog

[Email This Item]

Earthly Vessels
By Lee D Rorman - Contributing Poet

The human shell craves,
Thrives with might
Or so.

It flies with joy
Newly found,
Tingling.

Or sags and drags
Long days and
dark.

It seeks and accepts
Love given,
Cherishing.

Or fails and dies
Organs rotting,
Mottled.

It obeys commands
The soul
The captain.

Or scuttles a' shoal
Forgotten
Denied.

[Email This Item]

The Voice of Despair
By April A - Contributing Poet

Triangles of half-open doors
Reveal all the truth that is hidden:
Just condoms and cans on the floor,
Black papers with verses, forbidden -
Unfinished remakes of the song,
Deprived of the right to speak loud
Of wicked intentions gone wrong -
Erasers have muffled the shout.

The only illusion-proof mind -
A poet, the voice of despair,
Sincere, the one of this kind
Throws verses far into the air
Right there, in a dirty old flat
Among once great talents, now rotten.
They all have deserved more than that,
But even their names are forgotten.

[Email This Item]

A Secret Viewing
By Connie Guihan Ayres - Contributing Poet

Many years later
In the quiet of an evening
with a star-filled sky;
I dream upon a cherished memory
of a simpler time;
A time made pure
by streetlights and snowflakes,
and an upstairs window
overlooking a secret viewing
Of a beautiful world.

[Email This Item]