Poetry 1 Fall 2018

Full Moon

by Maria Arana

gray skies can’t seem

to cover your bleached face

stretched above the horizon-

a silhouette gone mad

residue dulls what’s left

as hedges whose caverns

sink further in time

and meld into the atmosphere

Bio: Maria A. Arana is a teacher, writer, and poet from the Los Angeles area. Her work has been published in Spectrum, Rosette Maleficarnum, el portal, vox poetica, and others. You can find her at https://rainingvoices.blogspot.com and https://twitter.com/m_a_Arana

Pail

by Mitchell Krockmalnik Grabois

I’m holding my uncle’s battered lunch pail

that belonged to my grandpa before him

My grandpa died of a heart attack

My uncle died in the factory

I’m carrying out the lunch pail

and my mother asks:

What are you doing with that?

My uncle was her hated brother

I say: I’m gonna put candy in it

Trick or treat---

My mother says: That’s not what you put candy in

That’s not what a ghost would carry

She’s wrong

but I don’t argue with her

She’s pigheaded

She ought to dress up

as a pig

except she doesn’t need to

The lunch pail is what my uncle would carry

He took it to work every day

It has dents in it

dents like the ones in my uncle’s face

I run out before the witchy old pig-head

can do anything

It’s Halloween

Ghosts rule

Bio:Mitchell Krockmalnik Grabois has had over fourteen-hundred of his poems and fictions appear in literary magazines in the U.S. and abroad. He has been nominated for numerous prizes, and. was awarded the 2017 Booranga Writers’ Centre (Australia) Prize for Fiction. His novel, Two-Headed Dog, based on his work as a clinical psychologist in a state hospital, is available for Kindle and Nook, or as a print edition. To read more of his work, Google Mitchell Krockmalnik Grabois. He lives in Denver, Colorado, USA.

The Witch’s Potion

by Eira Needham

Contempt is sprinkled with a pinch of pique

and slowly added to her odious pot.

She whisks some spite into the mix to wreak

revenge. It bubbles until piping hot.

Enticed, you sniff the effervescent brew

and salivating test a morsel first,
but soon you're hooked on ladles of her stew

and gobble quickly, unaware it's cursed.

Awakening, Chimera's madness surges
through your body, bowed until it shakes
with rage. Unleashed, your tongue succumbs to urges
bludgeoning the preyuntilhe quakes.

As anger ebbs away, the victim grieves

and burnt with guilt you vow a change of heart,

but impish temptress cackles as she leaves

I'm sure you'll love my elderberry tart.

Bio:Eira Needham is a retired teacher from Birmingham UK. Her poetry has been published in print and online. Some of her recent and forthcoming publications are in Autumn Sky Poetry, Poetry Pacific and Nine Muses Poetry. She has also been Featured Writer in WestWard Quarterly and came first in Inter Board Poetry Contest, August 2017.

Dragonsong

by Carolyn Wolfe

Ah the temptation of wings
To fly, to soar, to transcend
To see, to feel the wind surround me
Buoy me, strengthen me, lift me into the
Arms of the clouds..

Ah the temptation of wings
Yet here I sit, wings folded, flattened
Useless to me now
As I have been chained
Considered too dangerous

My inner fire
too bright
My song of freedom
Too powerful

I am instead here
In a dungeon filled with gold
As if to placate me with
The pale imitation of Sunfire

I am surrounded by wealth and fear
A dragon, alone
Encumbered and only dreaming
Of
Flight.

Bio: Carolyn Wolfe is a free-lance writer, published poet, and author of eight books, four of which are illustrated children's books. Those include, "Am I YOUR Pet?", "The Drowsy House," "The Bedtime of The Sky and Other Sleepy-Bye Stories" and "The Unhappy Little Dragon, Lessons Learned." Her books for general readership include: "Miracle Paws, A Love Story" a story of rescue and light romance, and"The Moonsparrow Collection" which is a collection of her short fantasy stories. Ms. Wolfe has also published two collections of her original poetry" Notes From the Shadow Self" and "Making Waves," as well as an adult Sword and Sorcery novella, "Blade's Magic" which is about dangerous magics and an attraction that spans two worlds. her latest book,"Tales Told Under The Darkened Moon" is a collection of dark fantasy stories, that have a hint of humor, a hint of dread, and little bit of shiver for all fans of ghost stories and tales that go bump in the night.
All her books are available on amazon.com, Barnes and Noble and Books-A- Million- (online)
Ms. Wolfe lives with her photographer husband, Scott, and a houseful of her own rescued, animal companions. If you would more info about this Author, here is her website info: http://wolfecarolyn.wix.com/carolyn-storyteller

The Thing About Shadows

by Kim Hazelwood Haley

The Thing about Shadows

Is the comfort of knowing

You may be part of a larger palette,

In Monochrome, sometimes Sepia,

Most likely Silvertone,

Longing for Noir.

Maybe in another life

I was a gumshoe.

A fedora sporting, cigarette sucking,

Tracker of secrets.

Scoping out characters,

Slipping and slithering into alleyways,

Decidedly, darkly.

Shadows!

In the winding-sheet of doubt

No need to squint your eyes for the reveal.

There are shapes telling stories in paranoid juxtapositions,

Ghosts in fragments floating like fog,

Where fog shouldn’t be.

Where the strangest man is waiting to attack

The helpless, maybe the hopeless.

The Thing about Shadows

Is the intensity of the swarthy depth of the shroud,

Subdued and yet subjugated.

Absence of light?

Maybe-

Hooligan hangout heaven-

Gangway, easy to see.

The darkside stories pulverize the mind

With a down melting shade of violet,

Where I saw a figure, maybe a man lurking like a cryptic creeper,

Eyeballing from an inky alleyway,

His hat or hair cocked akimbo-

Behold my binoculars!

But with eerie egress,

He vanished!

A real dead ender.

Slipped from the story I had in my mind.

Through the nightmare of walking alone curious about Shadows,

All the way down into dungeons of demons,

I find a mask has come off,

Sneaking along that dark channel,

It was just a benighted kid,

A kid!

But the Thing about Shadows,

If I may be so brilliant,

Pausing for one sweet moment,

Braving the bombing mischief of the heart,

Amidst the streetlight-less darkness,

What a trip through this part of the galaxy!

It is only just the Sun and the Moon casting

Forever in truest light,

Or maybe it’s only just You and Me

Showing off our glorious, glorious shadow-boxing.

Bio: Kim Hazelwood Haley edits this litzine entering its thirteenth year online! Her poetry has appeared in When Women Awaken (2016) as well as Green Silk and others. Her poem, A Geisha in Winter won third place in a poetry contest in Front Royal, hosted by Heather Davis for The Bridge Project. She is also the author of CoyoteBat! Lately, she has been performing as a singer-musician with her husband in their duo Cats With Matches around the valley, that is, when she is not writing, reading or photographing nature usually or gardening. She lives in the Shenandoah Valley.