Sequences

the almost vacation

whispering a come on sleep app

pillow talk exchanging last words

weighted blanket a late winter snow

escape room extending our stay

daydreaming the caress of a narrative

blue hour a tug of sweet light

Lorraine A Padden, USA & Peter Jastermsky, USA

tying Iona

a hand’s width too slow
his empty sandals
waiting for the splash

raindrops
on magnolia
she says he’s gone

tears on the doorstep
another mother
wrings her hands

weeping birch
some truths
are better hidden

knots
in her school shoes
trying to untangle this

storm rages
in my hip flask pocket
Gandhi’s autobiography

Iona––
tying our lives
to a driftwood prayer tree

Tim Roberts, New Zealand

Split Sequences

Fairground Games

July heat

melting

as he takes the reins

at the horse pull

the cotton candy

tilt-a-whirl

centrifugal force

draws her near

on my tongue

eyeing the next car

the roller coaster

starts with a jolt

Bryan Rickert, USA & Kat Lehmann, USA

Where the Flowers go

discipline

licked into shape

the sergeant’s barked command:

as you were

the only way

after

the passing-out parade

passing out

to make men of them

surviving

first contact with the enemy

wedding plans

Keith Evetts, United Kingdom

New World Martini

stirred and shaken

special order . . .

add two or four olives

to Mr. Putin’s drink

preparing my head

guided meditation

upon the sunroof

plinks and plinks

for world news

one more day

the planet revolves

around a tyrant

Richard L. Matta, USA

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