INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Shutta Crum
Joseph McNair
Laszlo Slomovits
Joanie Freeman
Chris Lord
Elisavietta Ritchie
Gerald Clark
Karyn M. Wolven
Duane Locke
Mervyn M. Solomon
Paul B. Roth
Sue Budin
Running Cub
Silvia Scheibli
Geoffrey Philp
Marilyn Churchill
Jerry Blanton
Steve Beaulieu
Don
Hewlett
Fred Wolven
This morning
for one
brief moment
between sleep
and
restlessness
I followed
the miniaturized
white trails
pale worms smear
over the sweet
cherry leaves
they ceaselessly
devour
A LOVE AWAY
Torches
you hurl down
a dry well
you've dug
for yourself
hit bottom
reveal
where your
never-before-seen
heart is
just as sharp
as the edge
around a popped
paper bag's
jagged hole
WANDERER
This winter
I tend a small fire
to keep warm.
Most nights,
the wind's
my only companion.
All alone with it
I've learned
many old songs.
Scented
by coyotes,
squabbling geese
flutter close to me.
When filled
with self-pity,
I'm reminded
how difficult it is
being alone.
Snow-stuck
dry maple leaves
strain
at their brittle stems
in high wind.
EARLY SPRING DRIVE
From afar,
the V
of a snow-crushed
hay barn.
April rains
flooding
corn stubble
into temporary
paddies.
Ice
clinging to rock
staining it
the sienna color
of muddied rust.
Thawed water
dripping against
shallow walls
in limestone caves.
Each drop's
splash
a moth's black
pair of wings.
Paul B. Roth, Fayetteville, New York