By Jane Valencia Quiet nightblue snowhidden moon twirls a skein of light Snow fallssoft woolen coinsspinning between antler branches A Christmas rose unfurlsfrom her clouded petticoatShe dyes petals within silent ponds Moon! Your footfallson the new-woven snowreveal patterns in this winter grove
Literary, November 2024, Poetry
Take, for What Is Given – A Villanelle
By Jane Valencia Download a pdf of the poem set to music Years ago, in the dark of the year, a friend shared with me a dream she’d had. I quickly forgot the nature of her dream, but a phrase she spoke sparked my imagination: “Take, for what is given.” I set to work on…
October 2024, Poetry
Two Poems in Tribute to Leonard Cohen
By Claudia Hollander-Lucas Two poems in tribute to poet-songwriter Leonard Cohen, who died shortly before the 2016 Presidential election. “Outlaw” takes creative license to an excerpt from ”A Street” and “No Halleluias” is my poem in response to the 2016 and 2024 elections.
August 2024, Literary, Poetry
August in Collioure
By Marc J. Elzenbeck It’s true that when you travelyou’re never free of Woody Allen.Every sidewalk artist knows himand four score more sketchable actorswho’ll ambush you from here to Thailandicons of the monoculture from which we come. Such harbingers. It reminds me how the prophetssaid the ends of earth express a single sum.Some foretell of…
May 2024, Poetry
5th Annual Mukai Haiku Festival Winners
Hosted by the Mukai Farm & Garden, the Mukai Haiku Festival 2024 received over a hundred haiku from 12 countries around the world. We are delighted to present the prize winners and their haiku, below. Category, Heritage First place:On Vashon Islandwhere our ancestors made home—the strawberries’ scent!~ Geoffrey Philp (Jamaica) Second place:Spring at Mukai FarmCherry…
April 2024, Poetry
Poetry by Ona Gritz
In Sycamore Park A narrow path overseen by a few metal benches leads to the massive wonder this place is named for, limbs the size of trunks, and a plaque that dates it back to 1650. Today, beneath that great latticework of shade, my friends discuss what is known about the communal network of roots. Even a stump, otherwise dead, still shares what it…
March 2024, Poetry
Southbound From Donbass
By Ivan SnowaTranslated by Marc J. Elzenbeck I see you on the beach so healthywith umbrella yellow and the sunheating strong and rolling overinto my skin with pleasant panic. You’re with the babies smilinglaughing but beckoning me backfrom the waves where I’m drowningI snap awake and grab the wheel. Scraping the mile marker post47 just…