|
Poetry 5 Spring 2025
SCENIC OVERLOOK
by Diane Webster
The river below
invites jumping,
a mile-deep dive
where a splash
is noticed as much
as a grain of sand
in a sand dune.
And the river
continues to flow
even at height
where it appears
like a pool,
it flows over
the path of least
resistance.
Bio: Diane Webster's work has appeared in Old Red Kimono, North Dakota Quarterly, New English Review, Studio One and other literary magazines. She had micro-chaps published by Origami Poetry Press in 2022, 2023 and 2024. She was a featured writer in Macrame Literary Journal and WestWard Quarterly. Her website is: www.dianewebster.com
Spangled
by Stelios Mormoris
Gauze of afternoon blurs the billboards
in Times Square. Under ledges of marquées
and ads selling Coke and kinetic cross-fit
shoes, below the flow of minus & plus,
tourists mill like dust, almost translucent.
Commuters change shoes fast as windows
blink gray to catch unforgiving trains,
and weekend commences. I fall into
a tall and leggy woman, like a red-tipped
matchstick--perhaps an extra in a matinée?—
or call-girl as my mother would say?—or
September issue girl of Vogue, 1984?—
crossing Broadway's stripes of shadow
in a bodice of spangles, flashing her vice—
mass of refraction absorbing hurt and light.
I track behind her, askew in tiny mirrors
on the curve of her hip, shifting me like cargo
in a make-shift train as she walks faster,
swabbed by neon in a blur of faces.
Traffic-light halos cast rings over crowds.
The heart jumps in a swipe of glare,
and knife of skyscraper gleaming.
Under turbans of steam, vendors turn in.
I reach Fifth, caught in a grid of screens
checker-boarding comically my shock
how in tinted reflections I followed her
for blocks. I try to shadow her serpent turns
through fleeing swarms with no design.
Yet lose the view of my sidestep dance,
my boy's delight, breathless in her spangle
as she vanishes into a black well of stairs.
Bio: Stelios Mormoris is a Native of Vouliagmeni, GREECE and Martha's Vineyard, MA., Stelios Mormoris is the CEO of SCENT BEAUTY, Inc. Citizen of Greece and the U.S., Stelios was raised in New York and spent most of his adult life living in Paris. He received his B.A. in architecture from Princeton, and M.B.A. from INSEAD [Institut d'Européen d'Administration et des Affaires] in Fontainebleau, France.
His work has been published in AGNI, CRAB CREEK REVIEW, CROSSWINDS POETRY JOURNAL, EUNOIA REVIEW, GOOD LIFE REVIEW, HIGH SHELF PRESS, HUMANA OBSCURA, MIDWEST POETRY REVIEW, NARRATIVE MAGAZINE, NASSAU LITERARY REVIEW, PLAINSONG, PRESS, SOUTH ROAD, SPILLWAY, SUGAR HOUSE REVIEW, TUPELO QUARTERLY, VERSE, and other literary journals. Stelios' debut book of poetry titled "The Oculus" was published by Tupelo Press in October 2023, and his second volume "Perishable" is forthcoming in April 2025.
Ars poetica
by Diana Raab
Me, the poet, the seer
strings words from my soul’s voice
but yesterday’s poem evaporates
from a keyboard barely visible
in the nearby ocean’s fog
and is transported to distant lands
where words massage feelings
from bulging arteries.
I write about those
who are no more
after they were sprinkled
into yesterday’s earth
nestled beneath velvety clouds
that now hang in my new hometown
beside a river,
where words tumble between
the small stones which hold
secrets never told
to anyone who ever
cared to listen.
I hope my poem takes you
to other universes
all my palpable words
broken into small phrases
what i look for in a poem
sometimes writing poems is hard
but i love the trance
it puts me in, eyes closed,
tapping on new keyboard
inside an office space that hold me close
Bio: Diana Raab, MFA, PhD, is a memoirist, poet, workshop leader, thought-leader and award-winning author of fourteen books. Her work has been widely published and anthologized. She frequently speaks and writes on writing for healing and transformation. Her work has been nominated for Best of the Net. Her 14th and newest book is Hummingbird: Messages from My Ancestors, A memoir with reflection and writing prompts (2024). Raab writes for Psychology Today, The Good Men Project, Sixty and Me, Thrive Global, and is a guest writer for many others. Visit: https:/www.dianaraab.com. Raab lives in Southern California.
Springtide
by John Muro
Beside the pensive shore
pious flowers bow their heads
like hooded monks before
their dawn devotions are said.
The wind, too, is spent
and draws still; even the birds
have abandoned air. All are content
to await the frenetic blur
of colors when eager stems of green
birth buds of beguiling-gold and Homeric-red
their craving for sun is deafening;
though petals, for now, are merely threads
that restrain the engorged blossoms
that stir and brightly burn
within, and the indulgent sun
they eagerly yearn for will soon turn
all from glory to an indelible grief,
and all that’s living back to dust.
That which offers life a brief
reprieve also takes, as it must.
Bio: John Muro is a resident of Connecticut and a lover of all things chocolate. He has authored two volumes of poems — In the Lilac Hour and Pastoral Suite — in 2020 and 2022, respectively. A third volume — A Bountiful Silence & Other Poems — will be published later this year. Since the publication of his first book, John has been thrice nominated for the Pushcart Prize, twice nominated for the Best of the Net Award and, in 2023, he was a Grantchester Award recipient. His work has appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies, including Acumen, Cool Beans Lit, Delmarva, Green Silk, River Heron, Sky Island and the Valparaiso Review.
|
|
|
