Two Poems by Susan Dale

A Page of Spring

A morning song climbs the skies
Ah, the loving kindness
          of April

            *****

Cherry blossom in bloom
Melting the fortress
          of winter

            *****

Ribs of rainbows
     arching to
A ceremony of sun and skies
 
            *****

Winter's fat form
Steel white, to silver
slivers of ice
To rumble with thunder
To melt into puddles
To a rain of promises
To mushrooms under oaks
To forsythia's arms spread wide
To leaves on the trees
To April shouting
a golden splash of daffodils



January Morning

Melancholy season
devoured in a single breath
by a chenille veil
Thrown across
a January morning

Susan Dale's poems and fiction are on Kind of  a Hurricane Press, Ken*Again, Penman Review, Inner Art Journal, Feathered Flounder, Garbanzo, and Linden Avenue.  In 2007, she won the grand prize for poetry from Oneswan.  She has two published chapbooks on the internet:  Spaces Among Spaces by languageandculture.org and Bending the Spaces of Time by Barometric Pressures Author's Series.

A Poem by Duane L. Herrmann

The Wasp

In the window trapped
between two panes of glass,
it flies up, down, across,
trying to find a way
through invisible glass.
It can't get out,
I won't let it in.
It will die in prison
and I will be relieved.

Duane L. Herrmann, 1989 recipient of the Hayden Poetry Fellowship, lives on the Kansas prairie reflected in Prairies of Possibilities.  His poetry is in:  American Poets of the 1990's, CyclamenandSwords, Flint Hills Review, Little Balkans Review, Midwest Quarterly, Orison, Planet Kansas, Whirlwind Review, Map of Kansas Literature (website) and others.

A Poem by David Lymanstall

Spring Spectacle

Skeletons of rosemary and stonecrop,
Hydrangea and aster,
Their roots still clinging to the soil,
Were left with intent
To brave a winter harsh and cold,
To stand tall through stinging winds,
Witness the rebirth of a garden about to stir.

Their brittle remains,
Like elderly souls
With wisdom and grace,
Seem to welcome and foster
Every emerging sharp blade of lily,
Every feathery, soft clump of new yarrow,
Every unfurling green fern.

Timeworn seed heads, tired and bent,
Look down with a doting glance
At each tender shoot,
The brown with the green,
The old with the new,
What was and what is,
Shepherding the spectacle of rebirth.

There comes the day each year,
Just after the vernal equinox,
Before full blown spring,
When the gate to the garden
Adorned with a grinning green man,
Opens after being closed for the winter,
Inviting all to enter for a celebration.

David Lymanstall is a teacher, artist and musician.  He has taught in classrooms ranging from Montessori Middle School to the college classroom.  He enjoys learning himself and likes to ignite that love of learning in others of any age.  In his spare time he teaches illustrated journal workshops, plays the fiddle in an Irish session group and enjoys writing science and nature related poetry that hopefully inspires others to look at the world around them a little closer.

A Poem by ayaz daryl nielsen

days of rain glide
under our bridges
pluvial acolytes and
disciples of rivers
an older us whome
wonder embraces

ayaz daryl nielsen, x-roughneck (as on oil rigs)/hospice nurse, editor of bear creek haiku (25+ years/125+ issues), homes for poems include Lilliput Review, SCIFAIKUEST, Shemom, Shamrock, Kind of a Hurricane Press, and online at bear creek haiku poetry, poems and info.

A Poem by Sydney Peck

Sunrise

I rise from bed and open the window
Stars of Cassiopeia and small aurora are still visible
Venus hangs like a lantern in the eastern firmament
Goddess unmistakably beautiful and strong
Dominating the dark velvet void
Dawn is a yet unborn child following the black drama of night

In the uncertain hour before dawn
In the twilight zone of heaven's half-light
Dawn seems fragile and may never succeed -- still
A young half-awake day is turning back the dim
Dark cloths of night in a timorous start
As I light my flickering candle

Candle shadows on my wall:  myth and reality changing constantly.
As the pressing sun rounds the curve of the horizon,
The vault turns to dappled lighter shades of pastel.
I finish shaving and wash away the soap and the sleep
Steady air not yet heated and land is black
Ever-changing, embroidered
With golden and silver light across the azure blue

As I put on coat and step out into the day
The sun peers cautiously at me over the whitewashed wall.
Out of the blue, dabs of sun tip the mountain peaks and spread down
The warmth starts to drive away small clouds
Lit underneath with their glowing gold edges.
The empty empyrean floods with gold, becomes alive and certain.



Sydney Peck has been a school teacher for thirty years, teaching English in the UK, Ireland, Canada, and Russia.  He spends his spare time playing musical instruments (mostly fold music) and writing poetry.

Two Poems by Barbara Gurney

Conquering

I sink beneath the waves
Disregard thoughts of survival

Air-filled bubbles ooze from me
Each reaching for the blue of the sky
Where clouds drift
Like me

The caress of the sea
Scolds me with cold
Embraces, then threatens
Touches my thoughts of oblivion

Inevitability seeps into each pore
Gently accepting without question
This watery grave
Tosses aside consequences
It lets me be

I claim this moments
To stay beyond reality
Possess solitude
A moment of liberty

The sun shivers across the surface
Peeks through the azure
Smiles without assurances
Promises a tomorrow

I surface and gasp at life



Haiyan

Cruel winds fling everything from its path
Shattered houses sprinkled across the landscape
   like condiments
Possessions sink into mud

Grief not yet claimed
Shock still hovering
   waiting to land

A huddle of children cling under a sheet of tin
A flapping tent
    a luxury

And when the typhoon stops . . .
    heartbreak stays

         Malaysian typhoon - November 2013

Barbara Gurney is based in a southern suburb of Perth, Western Australia.  She writes across several genres including fiction for adults and children, and free verse poetry.  Although an optimistic person, Barbara's poetry often explores the mournful side of life.  Her unpredictable thought processes are an advantage when creating short stories.  Barbara's novel Road to Hanging Rock was released in November 2013.

A Poem by Dawnell Harrison

Blue-Brazen Turquoise Sky

There's a creaking of wood planks
near the water in this small

Idaho city under a blue-brazen
turquoise sky.

The little flames of perky
red tulips burn in circles and

seduce me with their bloodied lips.
The sweet yellow tulips hush

all that is noisy --
trains full speed ahead

with their line of breath
and hot metal bearing
down on the tracks.



Dawnell Harrison has been published in over 200 magazines and journals including Poetrymagazine.com, Queen's Quarterly, The Fowl Feathered Review, Danse Macabre, Mobius and many others.  Also she has had 5 books published entitled, Voyager, The maverick posse, The fire behind my eyes, The love death, and The color red does not sleep.