“Ars Poetica” by RK Fauth
“Climbing through night, I saw the swan
wearing his black Venetian mask
and digging through snow
white plumage”
“Other/Decline to Answer” by Rita Tiwari
“His father called me exotic.
I was 17 and flattered;
I wanted to wear that word,
I longed to flatten into it.”
“Counting” by J. O’Nym
“On our way to the coast, we saw four hawks,
three red-tailed and one red-shouldered. Not aloft, no,
leaning forward, as they do, perched on a wire or a pole
in search of a vole breakfast.”
“The Time Has Come” by Karen McPherson
“I reached out for you this morning. A call
I haven’t made in a long, long time. Not since—
because of course I know—I do… and yet”
“Survival Came at a Cost” by Susan Eisenberg
“Just back to construction work after time off following my son’s birth, I can tell I don’t have the same patience.”