Monthly Archives: July 2021

2021 6th Annual H. Gene Murtha Memorial Contest Winners

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First Place:

courtroom––
how white the shirt
of the rapist

— Arvinder Kaur


Second Place:

first cry . . .
I too am born
a mother

— Agnes Eva Savich


Third Place:

white privilege––
a protester asks
to use the bathroom

—Kelley White


Read all 2021 honorable mentions and judges’ comments (PDF)

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Issue 34 – Haiga

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the red light
my round bindi
strikes his eyes

Amrutha Prabhu, India


two parentheses
I walk inside
to rest

Senryu source: Celebrating Childhood by Adonis, translated by Khaled Mattawa

Christine L. Villa, USA


peer pressure one of the herd mentality

Debbie Strange, Canada


hallowed ground
hand in hand
with echoes
lightning strike
the fizz and crackle
of our first kiss

John Hawkhead, United Kingdom


taking shape inside me, you

Julie Schwerin, USA


hotel illusion
light and shadow play
across a facade

Kate MacQueen, USA


rocky road
a month of submissions
and rejections

Mark Gilbert, United Kingdom


antidepressant
the doctor ups my dose
of vitamin G

Mark Meyer, USA


yin yang
she knows how to handle
my moods

Milan Rajkumar, India

old friends chat
miles of boardwalk
to reach the point
poppy––
holding his memory
as he held us

Olivia Ark, Australia


Covid-19
when a cold was just a cold

Pris Campbell, USA


walking to think I happened

where time tempers you a showering of dust

Shloka Shankar, India

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