Richard LeDue (he/him) is the author of eight books of poetry. His work has appeared in the Eunioa Review, Neologism Poetry Journal, Briefly Zine, and other publications, both online and in print
The Person I Used To Be
by Richard LeDue
3 AM musings
smelled of desperation,
while unicorns sniffed dreams
hidden behind my open eyes.
Extra maple cookies
helped the night
seem less like black coffee
gone cold.
My computer keyboard singing
a ten dollar poem
that died as easily
as someone in their sleep.
This was my defeat,
clean like a blank page
and practical as waking up
at a sensible hour.
###
Richard LeDue (he/him) is the author of eight books of poetry. His work has appeared in the Eunioa Review, Neologism Poetry Journal, Briefly Zine, and other publications, both online and in print. His latest book, “Secondhand Salvation,” was released from Alien Buddha Press in February 2023.
George Moore’s poetry has appeared in The Atlantic, Poetry, North American Review, Colorado Review, Arc and Stand. His recent collections are Children’s Drawings of the Universe (Salmon Poetry 2015) and Saint Agnes Outside the Walls
On the Last Day
by George Moore
after João Cabral de Melo Neto
On the last day of the world I’ll walk the dog along the shore
and we’ll notice the little things grains of sand glistening in the moonlight
all the smells he knows so well and we’ll not worry about Columbus
misreading the roundness of the world or Cortez the worship of horses
or Khan where to hide himself when the world is gone
Something will be going on somewhere
and we’ll feast in the honor of mornings with the traditional toast and jam
George Moore’s poetry has appeared in The Atlantic, Poetry, North American Review, Colorado Review, Arc and Stand. His recent collections are Children’s Drawings of the Universe (Salmon Poetry 2015) and Saint Agnes Outside the Walls (FutureCycle 2016). A finalist for The National Poetry Series and nominated for eight Pushcart Prizes, he has taught literature and writing at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and now lives on the south shore of Nova Scotia.
Charlie Brice is a retired psychoanalyst and is the author ofFlashcuts Out of Chaos (2016), Mnemosyne’s Hand (2018), and An Accident of Blood (forthcoming), all from WordTech Editions.
No Clues
by Charlie Brice
At 68 you dream
that you are flunking math
will never graduate from college
awake a total failure
it takes twenty minutes to remember
that you have a Ph.D.
a successful career
You crack
you break
parts chip off
you strive to be better
rarely succeed
Someone doesn’t like your poems
someone does
most are indifferent
the chip is on your shoulder
Time is both savior and executioner
You live long enough
to have something to say
but not long enough
to say it fully
You want to grow into yourself
but aren’t sure what that means
you resist common conformity
but want to be loved and admired
Life is a crossword puzzle
with no clues
you fill in the blanks
and hope that
what goes down and across
intersects
spells p e a c e
e
a
c
e
###
Charlie Brice is a retired psychoanalyst and is the author ofFlashcuts Out of Chaos (2016), Mnemosyne’s Hand (2018), and An Accident of Blood (forthcoming), all from WordTech Editions. His poetry has been nominated for the Best of Net anthology and twice for a Pushcart Prize and has appeared in The Atlanta Review, The Main Street Rag, Chiron Review, Fifth Wednesday Journal, The Paterson Literary Review,and elsewhere.
Gerard Sarnat is a physician who’s built and staffed homeless and prison clinics as well as a Stanford professor and healthcare CEO. He won the Poetry in the Arts First Place Award plus the Dorfman Prize, and has been nominated
Thanks to Ian McEwan’s Machines Like Me
Regards weather-worn ecclesiastical terms,
the word “peculiar” refers
to all districts outside of Church jurisdiction
or — updated to this Climate Change Age —
our small lackluster operation
(still heroically steam-driven) which does
get a disdainful comeuppance from robotic
enumerated odd ubiquitous A.I.
non-human eyes and ears but no Nero body.
###
Gerard Sarnat is a physician who’s built and staffed homeless and prison clinics as well as a Stanford professor and healthcare CEO. He won the Poetry in the Arts First Place Award plus the Dorfman Prize, and has been nominated for Pushcarts plus Best of the Net Awards. Gerry is published in academic-related journals including Stanford, Oberlin, Brown, Columbia, Virginia Commonwealth, Arkansas, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Wesleyan, Slippery Rock, Appalachian State, Grinnell, American Jewish University and the University of Edinburgh, University of Canberra. Gerry’s writing has also appeared widely including recently in such U.S. outlets as Gargoyle, Main Street Rag, New Delta Review, MiPOesias, American Journal Of Poetry, Poetry Quarterly, Poetry Circle, Clementine, Tiferet, Foliate Oak, New Verse News, Blue Mountain Review, Danse Macabre, Canary Eco, Fiction Southeast, Military Experience and the Arts, Poets And War, Cliterature, Qommunicate, Texas Review, Brooklyn Review, San Francisco Magazine, The Los Angeles Review and The New York Times. Pieces have also been accepted by Chinese, Bangladeshi, Hong Kongese, Singaporian, Canadian, English, Irish, Scotch, Australian, New Zealander, Australasian Writers Association, Zimbabwean, French, German, Indian, Israeli, Romanian, Swedish, Moscovian and Fijian among other international publications. Mount Analogue selected KADDISH FOR THE COUNTRY for pamphlet distribution nationwide on Inauguration Day 2017. Amber Of Memory was chosen for the 50th Harvard reunion Dylan symposium. He’s also authored the collections Homeless Chronicles (2010), Disputes (2012), 17s (2014), and Melting the Ice King (2016). Gerry’s been married since 1969 with three kids, five grandsons and looking forward to future granddaughters.
Journals publishing Janet McCann’s work include KANSAS QUARTERLY, PARNASSUS, NIMROD, SOU’WESTER, AMERICA, CHRISTIAN CENTURY, CHRISTIANITY AND LITERATURE, NEW YORK QUARTERLY, TENDRIL, and others
IN THESE TIMES, EMILY, NO
by Janet McCann
Tell all the truth but tell it slant — Emily Dickinson
Tell it bent,
refracted in an oblique lens?
No, tell it as a fishhook
caught in smug corpulence
Tell it as drawn blood
Label the dark red vials
Tell it as a sword
mightier than the pen
Tell it as a scream
half an inch from a sleeping ear
Tell it as a siren
a snapped shriek
Don’t hide it in gardens,
bejewel it, dress it in silk
Spell it
Tell it
Yell it
###
Journals publishing Janet McCann’s work include KANSAS QUARTERLY, PARNASSUS, NIMROD, SOU’WESTER, AMERICA, CHRISTIAN CENTURY, CHRISTIANITY AND LITERATURE, NEW YORK QUARTERLY, TENDRIL, and others. A 1989 NEA Creative Writing Fellowship winner, she taught at Texas A & M University from 1969-2016, is now Professor Emerita. She has co-edited anthologies with David Craig, ODD ANGLES OF HEAVEN (Shaw, 1994), PLACE OF PASSAGE (Story Line, 2000), and POEMS OF FRANCIS AND CLARE (St. Anthony Messenger, 2004). Most recent poetry collection: THE CRONE AT THE CASINO (Lamar University Press, 2014).
