Poet’s Corner: after the downpour
after the downpour
By Valerie Sonnenthal
frogs hop across the road
springing forward as my husband swerves
front wheels spin a mid-August splash
these are the first frogs of summer
torrential hours passed
sheets of rain obliterate
landscape a blur of grey
some...
Poet’s Corner: There’s a war going on
There’s a war going on
By Nancy Slonim Aronie
There’s a war going on (actually two)
and we’re debating whether Gray Barn Boule
or Orange Peel hot cross buns are better for French toast
There’s a war going on...
Poet’s Corner: so this happened
so this happened
By Michael Oliveira
first light rain of acorns
knocked on the forest floor
summoned summer forward
towards autumn's yet unopened door
cold umber light spread
as the sea upon the shore
i took no comfort there
so turned to quickly...
Poet’s Corner: Autumn
Autumn
By Cecily Bryant
The singing of crickets in unison
herald the coming of the waning light,
Daddy long-legs do their push-ups on my
door frame, and the Joe-Pye weed stand like
tawny sentinels daring the fall to come
I am...
Poet’s Corner: Sometimes
Sometimes
By Dave Plath
I think, I think and I think and
sometimes I can't think at all,
and sometimes I think that the thoughts that I think
aren’t worthy of thinking at all
and sometimes I wonder, I ponder,...
Poet’s Corner: At the Water’s Edge
At the Water's Edge
By Eloise Jones
You stand by the water’s edge
Close enough to feel the slap of salty water against your knees
Smell the brine in the air
Hear the steady tempo of the waves
And you...
Poet’s Corner: Swim
Swim
By Valerie Sonnenthal
today writing a poem
feels like an imposition
my mind wanders
after a swim
pond to myself
under cover of hazy gray
held by the mother spirit
back in the womb
each afternoon
in tune with old strokes
restrictions melt away
pleasure in...
Poet’s Corner: You Know What I Mean
You Know What I Mean
By Seán McMahon
Walking up Music Street
In West Tisbury
All is good in the hood
And if I could, then I would
Kiss all the cute little fat babies I meet
‘Cause I feel like...
Poet’s Corner: Island Roads
Island Roads
By Jeffrey Agnoli
Beamers, rovers
beaters, dreamers
twenty-first century
machines roam the roads
across this piece of radiance
amidst the Atlantic.
Paths once traversed
by much earlier humans
nobler and saner
walking in lines
of earth energy
the Mother laid out
before time.
Multidimensional
roads that still remain
offering...
Poet’s Corner: Times of conflict
Times of conflict
By Cecily Bryant
I think such hard times tend to
draw the succor from the breadth of souls
Spread from those with everything
to those with nothing
For what human being can not imagine the
bleeding of a...
Poet’s Corner: I hear America crying
I hear America crying
By Valerie Sonnenthal
I hear America crying
tears that cannot be wiped
away on television screens
monitors emphasize
what is magnified
lies on display
like a hit parade
who can top this
does anything matter
anymore anything
not death or deploy
let others...
Poet’s Corner: Writing Workshop
Writing Workshop
By Beki Test
they say the moon doesn’t belong in a poem
you have written The moon is sometimes male
no one knows what you mean
its grad school and everyone feels superior
they roll their eyes and...
Poet’s Corner: Mr. Bumblebee and Me
Mr. Bumblebee and Me
By Liz Splittgerber
I had a happy visit
Of the most unusual kind —
A bee came to my house today
And that I didn't mind
He was quiet, he was sad
I didn't ask him why
I...
Poet’s Corner: Moving Day
Moving Day
By Cecily Bryant
Measuring the now empty rooms
to see if the next rooms we inhabit will
accommodate this prior life’s comforts
Sweeping the dusty floors and the odd bits
of living inevitably appear
Tinsel from a long-ago Christmas...
Poet’s Corner: trouble
trouble
By Michael Oliveira
my ocd me
requests you put it back where
you know it belongs
by that i imply
in exactly the same spot
facing the same way
cause if you don't
it could trouble me all night
that i would not...
Poets Corner: May 1968: Lambert’s Cove
May 1968: Lambert’s Cove
By Leroy Hazelton
The sea is hidden
At the end of worn grey planks,
So life gently rises
In the scent of ocean
As you close your eyes
Smiling
And drift past original destinations,
Out on the fragile nerve
Where...
Poet’s Corner: ‘Experiment’
Experiment
By Valerie Sonnenthal
a hazy night sky
mutes blinking red lights
etched into the horizon
silent lambs sleep
in a heap of sheep
under a beetlebung tree
dogs lie in wait
curled across limbs
breathe as one
sand in every pocket
stuck in creases
soles to...
Poet’s Corner: ‘Shadbush Signals’
Shadbush Signals
By Jeffrey Agnoli
Shadbush trees of all sizes
bloom along the roads
and through the mostly leafless woods
signaling with sprays of white
the return of the green wave
whose renewing life
will soothe wintered eyes
lift conflicted hearts
and transform inner...
Poet’s Corner: ‘Wild Hearts’
Wild Hearts
By Cecily Bryant
I tend to gravitate to the wilder hearts
Those whose childhoods still shine through
the corners of their eyes
The tangled bittersweet and wind-seeded
flowers draw us more assuredly than do
other riches
Foremost are memories of...
Poet’s Corner: ‘Next Door’
Next Door
By Valerie Sonnenthal
Lamb heaven’s hoppin’ only two days old
little peeps baaas and a shove over from mama
ten little lambs a lookin’ this way and that
damp freeze of spring crocuses forsythia snowdrops
and lambs whiter...