Leftovers
By Korey Wallace of Sioux City, Iowa
When college was happening for most
Those men there
Were humping jungle.
Far from your video games….
The Sheriff’s Wife’s Prayer
By Donna Kathryn Kelly of Sioux Falls, South Dakota
A hope
that when the child is found…
Relief
On the talk show, the psychologist was telling the guests,
three brothers, that they needed to work through their anger
at their parents in order to move on with their lives…
I don’t want to know you anymore
I told you I wasn’t a poet anymore
stop texting me prompts and images of the sunset or twilight or stars
…
Ode to a Perfect Stranger
… Rain turned to sleet, then hail,
during my hour of errands,
leaving a macadamed parking
lot of black icy terror
…
About the Birds and the Bees
In Kauai sex is everywhere
In gardens and along roadsides
Stamens in their sheaths springing out
in orange and yellow hibiscus flames
Like young stallions in the first throes of…
Farewell to Summer
[…]
No more will our young lab Pepper nuzzle your ears,
lick salt from your eyes, and jump over you in joy.
No more marveling at the heap of two black labs on one bed…
[…]
Leaving Paris
Our last night on the Boulevard Montmartre, you discovered,
among dusty rows of cracked pitchers and wrinkled antique
lace, the perfect sapphire ring, insisting that I have it as a reminder
of the way you thought of me. Exhausted from our walking…
A Good Host
When the winds of change come knocking on your door (as they do to every door, sooner or later), don’t turn off the lights or hide behind the curtains. Try to be a good host…