Stone of DreamtimeThe Ochre Pits, Australian Outbackby Trudy Wendelin In raw, ochre realmsAborigines paint the blood of ancestorsFrom deep palette of mineralsOnto desert landscapes… As shadows of siennaFade into glowing windsThrough the ephemeral lightWith burnt whispers of fire, Mining emotions from eternity,Excavating years from eonsOf ancient tears and fleshInto a dense moment in time. MyContinue reading “Stone of Dreamtime by Trudy Wendelin”
Monthly Archives: January 2021
Once in the Bronx by Gary Beck
Once in the Bronxby Gary Beck Once I had a girlfriend who lived in the Bronx.I got lost whenever I visited her.I vaguely remember her neighborhood,a resplendent boulevard built to welcomeNapoleon IV, Marshal Foch, General de Gaulle.But it received instead my urgent lust,leading me astray in the seven hills,not of rambling Romeand the conspiratorial Tiber,butContinue reading “Once in the Bronx by Gary Beck”
Theatre of the Bay by Roger Patulny
Theatre of the Bayby Roger Patulny The amphitheatre of the Derwentbefits the frothy wedge-led streakstacking through at dawnbilges taut with Antarctic water we fold out seats in Lindisfarnebeneath gum trees regenerating high and hairy on the Natone Trailour bubbly propped on convict walls, wecheer and lift cold boots asoff-lead puppies thunder underfoot bushwalkers sight phonesContinue reading “Theatre of the Bay by Roger Patulny”
Night Journey, poem by Theodore Roethke with photograph by Corky Lee
Night Journeyby Theodore Roethke Now as the train bears west,Its rhythm rocks the earth,And from my Pullman berthI stare into the nightWhile others take their rest.Bridges of iron lace,A suddenness of trees,A lap of mountain mistAll cross my line of sight,Then a bleak wasted place,And a lake below my knees.Full on my neck I feelTheContinue reading “Night Journey, poem by Theodore Roethke with photograph by Corky Lee”
Walls by Shelly Blankman
Wallsby Shelly Blankman Dedicated to the family of my grandmother, Regina Wallenstein, and the millions slaughtered by the Nazis while the world turned a blind eye. I’ve walked these halls before,seen the dimmed faces of thoseborn to die because they were Juden,Jews.Time-tattered images of peoplefrozen in time, matted on wallslike cheap paper.Flammable.DisposableEyes of the innocentContinue reading “Walls by Shelly Blankman”
Kalimpong With Mother and Father by Amrita Valan
Kalimpong With Mother and Father by Amrita Valan It was the bedrock June of my nineteenth year Traveling by train to Kalimpong, peaceful pristine Poor cousin of crowded Darjeeling. Stayed at an old Colonial guesthouse, a charming Red roofed bungalow of deep cream. Dark Polished wooden floors and red tiles in the front. A breathContinue reading “Kalimpong With Mother and Father by Amrita Valan”
Revisiting Joshua Tree National Park by Carolyn Martin
Revisiting Joshua Tree National ParkTwentynine Palms, Californiaby Carolyn Martin Joshua fit the battle of JerichoAnd the walls come tumblin’ down . . . — An African-American spiritual The terrain hasn’t changed. The Cap still tilts.The Skull glares over a parking lot.The Jumbo Rocks? This careless pile nudgedfrom eons underground lazes in theContinue reading “Revisiting Joshua Tree National Park by Carolyn Martin”
The Writer by Robert Lima
The Writer by Robert Lima Backed by nebulous nature, under forged matrix spirals from which a path is said to spring, his silhouetted image sits mid-air with plumed pen pending in his hand, looming over the Victorian desk, whose bowed legs are in symbiosis with the arching of his back. It could be Stevenson orContinue reading “The Writer by Robert Lima”
Golden Gate Morning by Marianne Brems
Golden Gate Morning by Marianne Brems Fog spills over the ridge like a cauldron. Thick and soft as goose feathers, swaddling a bridge not ready to rise from sleep beneath its hidden towers. The majestic turned docile inside a shroud of gray. But within seconds, like an apology for obstruction, the north tower leaps throughContinue reading “Golden Gate Morning by Marianne Brems”
Insect Life of Florida by Lynda Hull
Insect Life of Floridaby Lynda Hull In those days I thought their endless thrum was the great wheel that turned the days, the nights. In the throats of hibiscus and oleander I’d see them clustered yellow, blue, their shells enameled hard as the sky before the rain. All thatContinue reading “Insect Life of Florida by Lynda Hull”
POETRY and PLACES 