Beautiful She cracked a throaty Marlboro laugh that piped her spicy liquored breath into my face. Her blouse hung...

  The Wiles of a Woman The wiles of a woman, men, you never should discount. For after all, they...

  Amore If looks could kill I’d be a dead man walking. Your drop-dead beauty has me in its spell....

  To May, the Prince of Months by Eustache Deschamps (1346–1406), translated from French by Margaret Coats Noble month, father...

  FIRST PLACE   Her Matted Hair Based on “Daughter Dies Three Days After Admission to Prison for Practicing Falun...

  Coach “Black Mike” Castronis, Athens Y Camp ---1947-1987 “Enthusiasm” was his word, Win or lose, he bore it well,...

  Mosi-oa-Tunya Mosi-oa-Tunya is ‘The Thunderous Smoke’; twixt Zambia and Zimbabwe it sits; Doc Livingstone, that missionary bloke observed its...

  Creation of Mom God flew through the Halls of Heaven _From His throne into his lab. Angels came to...

  Spontaneous Conjugal Combustion ---a villanelle He simply couldn't turn the other cheek On ceaseless babble drowning out the game....

  The Man in the Moon Was a Very Round Man   The Man in the Moon was a very...

  Fibromytrauma My body’s still and will not settle. It keeps the scores: Muscles. Nerves. “Tough love,” he said. A...

  A Lonely Sliver “The wood is dead,” he pointed out _the windows rimmed with frost; “those columns there—” he...

  Higher Gas Prices Are a Small Price to Pay For years, “Death to America” _is the chant that we...

  Always Ahead We live—but life runs on in restless haste; Through back doors cut in doubt and hidden fear....

  Hamlet's Lawyer Will Shakespeare? Here. These papers are for you. Aye, open them. A summons and complaint! Don’t grumble,...

  On An Old Photograph It was late fall of 1944. Dad was back from Italy, on leave, When no...

  Faust Foresees His End Now, as holy darkness falls And curfew reigns within the walls, To each gatehouse troops...

  À la Carte A crouton on a flaccid salad, Your dinner date adds texture to An otherwise anemic toss,...

  Where the Sweet Bluebonnets Bloom There is one thing a Texas cowboy _Always takes into account: _A cowboy will...

  The Waters _'Tis more than oceanic seas ___That bring me Wonder. I have tasted spray from New York's waterfall,...

  The Pinnacle of Poetry Well under one percent acceptance rate, Submitters wait a year to learn their fate. Yet...

  The First American Sonnets: David Humphreys by Margaret Coats In 1776, the first known sonnet in the United States...

  The Holy Rollers on Poetry We are the Holy Rollers— We live for solemn prayer. With censers of pure...

  Poem 1 by Sappho (circa 630-570 B.C.) translated from Greek by Bruce Phenix Immortal Aphrodite, richly throned, wile-weaving child...

  The Cautionary Tale of Phone Addicted Mimi A girl called Mimi thought it best to give her active brain...

  Look Away “Look away, across the fabled sea,” Our fathers cried, with voices loud and clear, There’s a place...

  Sunday Morning in Canada By all accounts he was a thoroughly Unpleasant man. His wife divorced him and His...

  Bean I found you in a shelter, cold and wet, your dark, expressive eyes fixed on my own. They...

  The Swan’s Song He brewed his words in cauldrons on the moors. They doubled as they bubbled to the brim. He conjured...

  The Gravedigger I garden to acquaint myself with graves. Accompanying death with every turn, my spade exhumes pharaonic tombs,...

  Waiting for the Perfect Man A woman waiting for the perfect man, though she was far from perfect, had...

  The George-A-Saurus Forget the Jabberwocky, son--- Instead beware the George-A-Saurus: A wicked monster you should shun; Whose single goal...

  When Asked: “What’s Your Favorite Season?”   ---a villanelle I can’t decide which season I like best; they all...

  https://youtu.be/jd7Zxqf4zDs?si=Ny4BwTAKFJ0378sl   The Last At-Bat of Lyndon Braun The crowd was on its feet because they knew it was...

  The Perpetual Battle   I From Arad north to Hazor acrid smoke Rose from each cyclopean citadel Of Canaan---altar-fires...

  Spring in the Moment It is a time to learn to walk. Too many ages have we spent In...

  Have a Nice Week! I wish you a wonderful week! May Monday go smoothly and sleek, And Tuesday productive...

  At the No-Win Inn The room for error is across the hall, Between the storage bin for grave mistakes...

  When the Phone Rings I can’t still be excited when the phone rings, I was for decades, but no...

Deep Water   I. Kōan I ponder by the ancient pool. A frog jumps in. I hear a splash. The...