STOPPING BY My mother said butterflies visited her in dreams. Outside my bedroom window, a yellow butterfly. That’s her, stopping by, then off she goes. * Kenneth Pobo (he/him) is the author of twenty-one chapbooks and nine full-length collections. Recent books include Bend of Quiet (Blue Light Press), Loplop in a Red City (Circling Rivers), and Lilac And Sawdust (Meadowlark Press) and Gold Bracelet in a Cave: Aunt Stokesia (Ethel Press). His work has appeared in North Dakota Quarterly, Asheville Literary Review, Nimrod, Mudfish, Hawaii Review, and elsewhere. The post STOPPING BY by Kenneth Po ..read more

My Mom Dies During a Pandemic A hospital bed replaces the one she shared with my father for over 70 years, her brain long ravaged by Alzheimer’s. She writhes, the nurse says she’s transitioning. I stand masked in her bedroom doorway, immobile, scared. I leave her dying to the professionals. It’s her birthday. I carry a card, decorated with flowers and sparkles, nothing more. * A lifelong New Englander, Laurie Rosen’s poetry has appeared in The Muddy River Poetry Review, Peregrine, Oddball Magazine, Zig Zag Lit Mag, Gyroscope Review, Wilderness House Literary Review, Inquisitive Eater, a journa ..read more

Small House Our parents never kicked us out of the nest, but now that we’ve left, they can’t leave it behind like robins do every season— stuck in the forks of an oak or maple until the fallen leaves reveal the hollow home. * Today, my anger was a falling knife Today, a sanguine sunset filled my vision—I blinded myself in anger, self-inflicted. Why I am mad was a small thing, a pebble gumming up a gear. Today, I was an angel, falling. Today, my anger was a falling knife, gyrating on its long axis. I keep my knives dull—yes, you caught me—even though it’s dangerous. By the time I get around to ..read more

I’m Not a F*cking Superhero Just for Raising My Autistic Son I just don’t know how you do it, she says, marveling, her eyes wide like prey to express just how awe-struck she truly feels. You’re a Superhero. My son, stimming, cavorting happily around the room; neurodiverse, a bright ray of sun, simply delightful, and brilliant like a savant; she sees his meltdowns his struggle to use the bathroom declares me to be the Ubermensch and I resist the urge to roll my eyes. There is consolation in her voice; like she is sending up a holy prayer of thanks her own children do not have special needs. It ..read more

AT THE GREEN CEMETARY AND NATURAL PATH SANCTUARY            For Rosemary I’m lost on the narrow trails sloping and curving among the exuberant green of late May. I suppose my friend is everywhere here, and that is the point: growing into the earth now, indistinguishable from fern or maple, oak or ash. Birdsong crisscrosses everywhere as I make my way deeper into the woods. It is supposed to be enough; I might be too set or greedy, I want more– one marker with dates chiseled or raised in burnished bronze. I want a stone that endures for her ..read more

The Hard Talking We Do For Dennis What’s on your mind, friend What has you twisted I’d sure like to know it’s name Walk a while with you Towards the thing causing you so much pain I have none of the answers But I am certain to know the song you’re singing Alone in the dark And knowing is the ark I’ve been around that part of town I know the dangers The regulars The sound of a train where trains don’t run anymore I see it’s gone dark in your house You’re pacing the hours Considering your options The tools you’ll use for the job of extraction Who can know if that dark will ever lift Who has the ..read more

Lovers’ Geometry How the shape of me fits into the shape of you, the long lean line of your body as I curve against it, your leg right-angled over mine, the oval of my head tucked beneath the square of your shoulder, forming a composite figure of which even Euclid had nothing to say. * Claudia Mills is the author of over 60 books for young readers, including most recently the middle-grade verse novel The Lost Language (Holiday House 2021), named a Notable Verse Novel of the Year by the National Council of Teachers of English. She is also a faculty member in the graduate programs in children’s ..read more

~ ONE ART’s Top 10 Most-Read Poets of May 2023 ~ Donna Hilbert Heather Swan Dick Westheimer Betsy Mars Jane Edna Mohler Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer Jacqueline Jules Joan Mazza Richard Levine Rachel Custer The post ONE ART’s Top 10 Most-Read Poets of May 2023 appeared first on ONE ART: a journal of poetry ..read more