The Poem
by Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal
The poem heads in all directions.
It crawls under the table.
It climbs up all the roofs.
It flows through my veins.
It takes flight on the wing of a dove.
It crosses path with a black cat.
It speaks in a foreign language
and takes a ride on a magic carpet.
It claps when applause is deserved.
It clings to the laces of a tennis shoe.
It goes on the road with Kerouac.
In flutters in the whirling wind and
the mad swirl of life. In the pages
of a magazine the poem finds itself
next to another poem it hopes to wed.
It passes out on the street from exhaustion.
It becomes the regenerative tail of a
lizard. It finds itself in a wasp’s nest
soaking wet with honey. It dries up
on the beach on a warm summer’s day.
It travels on clouds through blue skies.
It finds itself in the scrap yard seeking
treasures from the forgotten past.
Food Fight
After Glenn Cooper
by Luis Guauhtemoc Berriozabal
My friend from Australia
tells me the parrots get noisy
there this time of year,
just like the ones in California.
They get into the bottlebrush
trees and fight for food.
He tells me the magpies
are bad there in spring.
They attack you if you
look at them the wrong way.
Bio: Born in Mexico, Luis live in California and works in the mental health field in
Los Angeles. His poems have appeared in Blue Collar Review, Green Silk Journal,
and Kendra Steiner Editions. He is the author of Make the Water Laugh (Rogue
Wolf Press).
Square Dancing
by Bruce Morton
In elementary school there was
An introduction to square dancing.
It was elementary. It was physical
Education. It was square.
The geometry of it confusing.
We would go round and round
Dosey-doeing. The creeping
Discomfort, having to touch girls,
Hold hands, lock arms—together.
Swing right swing left promenade.
There seemed to be no right angles.
Just soft flesh and girly smiles—
And cooties. This would change.
Bio: Bruce Morton divides his time between Montana and Arizona. He is the author of Planet Mort (FootHills Publishing, 2024) and the chapbook Olive-drab Khaki Blues (FootHills, 2026). His poems have appeared in numerous online and print venues. He was formerly dean at the Montana State University library.
Meaning
by Jeffrey Zable
Thankfully, I found some:
with my wife,
among a few close friends,
in various students I’ve taught,
among cats and dogs,
and through writers and artists
I’ve followed along the way.
I imagine I’m somewhere
in the middle
in terms of finding it.
And though these lines
aren’t the most meaningful,
they aren’t the most meaningless.
Bio: Jeffrey Zable is a teacher, conga drummer/percussionist who plays for dance classes
and rumbas around the San Francisco Bay Area, and a writer of poetry, flash-fiction,
and non-fiction. He's published five chapbooks and his writing has appeared in hundreds
of literary magazines and anthologies, more recently in Rundelania, Misfit, Streetcake,
Piker Press, The Argyle, Dark Winter, The Ravens Perch, Beach Chair, and many others.
His selected poetry, "When I'm Dead and Feeling Blue" is now available from Amazon
or directly from Androgyne Books.
