New Poetry by Doug Holder

 

A Balloon with the Artist's Own Breath

(From a New York Times article about a museum exhibit)

On the museum wall
appointed
next to a
well- hung
gray
duct-taped banana 
the artist's
mission statement
his heated breath
confined in plastic--
swirls of sputum
particles of modern
postmodern
conceptual
are in a slow,
threatening cloud.

And it is best
that it is contained
amidst the refined,
patrons'
nuanced breath
It is best
to be deaf.

- © Doug Holder 2020

Doug Holder is the founder of the Ibbetson Press. His work has appeared in Blue Pepper, Constellations, The Boston Globe and elsewhere. For over thirty years he ran poetry groups for psychiatric patients at McLean Hospital--outside of Boston. His latest collection of poetry is " The Essential Doug Holder: New and Selected Poems." ( Big Table Books)

New Poetry by Yash Seyedbagheri

 

Autumn Evening

clouds puff with pink and white linings
across a pale blue dreamscape
shadows spill over country roads
long and deep
where trucks no longer sputter and roar
with exhaust and frenetic energy
and cracked laughter cackles
 
Bushes burst with gold and flame
Ponderosa and aspens sway
hundreds of needles and tender little leaves
bending
swishing
the wind whispers her breathless hush
a butter-colored light flicks on through the pines
 
the crickets begin to call
frogs join the chorus
shadows deepen and shimmer

- © Yash Seyedbagheri 2020

Yash Seyedbagheri is a graduate of Colorado State University's MFA program in fiction. His story, "Soon," was nominated for a Pushcart. Yash has also had work nominated for Best of the Net and The Best Small Fictions. A native of Idaho, Yash’s work is forthcoming or has been published in WestWard Quarterly, Café Lit, and Ariel Chart, among others

 

New Words and Images by Wayne H. W Wolfson

- © Wayne H. W Wolfson 2020

Click here to visit the artist's website

New Poetry by Paul Tanner

woe, yay!

this poem is about depression
so you better publish it.

this poem is hashtags 
and well-meaning ones at that:
it’s #depression
and #mentalhealth 
and you don’t want to miss out, do you?

never mind it’s not very good:
it can’t NOT be good
because it’s about mental health.

never mind you don’t like it:
you can’t NOT like it,
otherwise you’re prejudiced 
against mental health.  

never mind you don’t like me:
you can’t NOT like me 
because I write about mental health.

look,
if you don’t publish this poem
I’ll have to write another poem 
about your intolerance 
and everyone will back me up
because they don’t want to be seen 
as intolerant either

so publish me
or else.

publish me 
for both our sakes:

the awards  
and rave reviews 
and royalties 
will really help

with my depression. 


- © Paul Tanner 2020


Paul has been hounding independent magazines for many years. His latest collection, “Shop Talk: Poems for Shop Workers”, is published by Penniless Press. 

New Poetry by Karen May

Respectfully 

Rinpoche clears his throat
sips his tea
presses the left side
of his nose
shuffles pages – English
over Tibetan
over Sanskrit –
settles a buttock
offers a sonorous prayer
and launches.

Two hours later
– slowly releasing pressure
and forgoing altitude –
his hermeneutic
time and space travelling
Zoom-cushion
touches
down.


- © Karen May 2020

Karen May’s poetry has been published by Bluepepper, Cicerone Journal and Poetry d’Amour 2020 anthology. She is a climate and ecological activist and artist, and lives in Ngunnawal Country.

New Poetry by Jillian Smith

Portent

I dream of a wing
blood-colored and trembling.

It glistens, spit-thin,
unattached to body or being,

riding the air without singing,
carrying without lifting.

From a tangle of cloud, 
it jostles to be free.

A fragment in space,
it seeks wholeness in others,

reminded by itself
of what it cannot be. 


- © Jillian Smith 2020

Jillian Smith is a writer living in Atlanta, GA. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Poetry at Georgia State University. Jill's poetry has been featured in SOFTBLOW Poetry Journal, Anderbo, Bluestem Magazine, and Barking Sycamores. Originally from outside Philadelphia, Jill got her BA in English from Penn State University and her MFA in Fiction from Florida State University. She recently got married, welcomed two cats into her family, and moved into her first home.