“Spring Zephyr” by Caitlin Gemmell


I can’t resist a wind
that opens its arms to me,
swooping down to play
ruffles my hair and creates
starry music.
  This
    crisp
      giggle breeze,
her voice clearly singing
notes of “Pachelbel’s Canon”
seemed to be struck with
      fever
        bliss


Caitlin Gemmell is a writer and artist living on top of a hill in upstate New York. When not writing or creating, she spends her days: drinking tea, foraging for wild edibles, tending her garden, and wrangling her child, chickens, and a pig (who wandered here one summer night and never left).

“My Backpack” by Andy Betz


My backpack contains all that I have lost, and never can recover.

The sheer volume of the contents is only surpassed by the weight each provided in the metaphoric instability of my life.

I should carry the contents for the entire world to see, and one special person to realize I do believe the non-tangibles of life indeed have value greater than the price at which I sold them.

In order of discovery, my backpack contains:

How I lost my way. Whether it was through life or a single day, my decisions have not amounted to anything one would recognize as successful.

How I lost my virginity. Offered at a discount, combined with underage beer goggles, the entire experience was not worth the effort given or the notoriety acquired.

How and when I lost my dignity. Another fiasco predicated on a dare, tequila, and the advent of VHS tape. Greatness thrives in the memory of the impressed. Stupidity lurks forever beneath a thin veneer of respectability.

How I lost my childhood. No one should eagerly accept the yoke of service for the pittance it remits to 9 year olds.

How I lost my hope. Twelve years old and still laboring at the same position.

How I lost time. I went to sleep last night at the age of 10. I awoke this morning nearly 50 years old. I have the memories of my history. However, I no longer have the memories of the time I spent collecting each.

How I lost my place while reading. Bookmarks are cheap and worth the price.

How I lost my nerve. I could have balked. I should have interrupted and spoke my mind when Elizabeth stood at the altar and took another as her husband.

How I lost my will. I had the chance to propose first. I had the opportunity to make her happy before she met him. I could have worked. If only . . .

How I lost my cookies (vomited). The anniversary of the last two events. Beats sour grapes, but tastes worse.

How I lost my heart when she broke it. Elizabeth cared for all hearts. My rebound to Elizabeth, her sister, Audrey, feasted on all hearts. Just because the last name is the same, does not insure the first feelings are.

How I lost my patience. I let 27 years elapse waiting for the perfect woman. None with these prerequisite credentials exists.

How I lost my cool. One bar, one bottle of tequila, and one too many sorrows told to one too many people who didn’t want to listen resulting in one too many punches and one too many police arriving.

How I lost my soul. The last refuge of a desperate man is to claim possession of that which he knows he lost first. Only in retrospect does one realize the true cost of a life poorly lived.

I now intend to keep my backpack closed forever.  It has served its purpose well.


Andy Betz has tutored and taught in excess of 40 years. He lives in 1974, and has been married for 29 years. His works are found everywhere a search engine operates.

“Zagreb” by Natasha Moskaljov


She became Paris that night
we walked through her gut,
cobbled streets, blood cells

on feet and clacking heels,
dancing tongues, shimmering
insides. My city I ran from.

She glides with stillness letting
us pass. She never held me tight.
Not to plant me, not to help my fall.

I tasted her spit, scraped dirt
out of my ears. Beauty fades
in the eyes that know. New

is always sensitive to touch.
Much like a new perfume
she tickled my scalp.

Her air breathes me when I
forget to inhale. We always do
when the light hits the spot.

I don’t want to come back.
I’m keeping her like that.


Natasha Moskaljov is an emerging writer and yoga teacher from Croatia. She’s currently based in Tenerife, Spain working on her fiction, poetry, and learning how to sail.

“Could It Be Just A Dream?” by Silvia Baptista


I woke-up in a terrible mood.
I had a dream.
It was not good.
Couldn’t shake the smell of sanitizer cream.

Everyone wore masks.
Everyone walked 6 feet apart.
Stay home. No more work tasks.
Stay home. No more visits to the museum of art.

TV talked of death everywhere.
Radio played songs of sadness.
Out flowed a tear.
Over and over like infinite madness.

There was fear.
And uncertainty.
There was also a lot of care.
And there was plenty of ingenuity.

So many questions.
So few answers.
To make the connections.
Zigzagging like lost wanderers.

Somehow some people cope.
Tied-up in a knot.
Some have hope.
Others not.

So glad it was just a dream.
Ready to zoom.
Or so it would seem.
Here comes that familiar feeling of doom.


Silvia Baptista is an explorer of the written word. Just recently, Silvia started to write a few words here and there about anything and everything. Silvia particularly enjoys connecting the obvious to the not so obvious in verses of poetry.

“40 Acres” by William David


Just a small piece of ground,
just 40 acres, it ain’t that much.
I’ve heard it told before,
homesteaders got 40 acres, sometimes more.
Just enough space all around,
for my peace and privacy and such.
I just want to be a little out of touch.
I’m not looking for total isolation,
just enough room to be left alone.
Some time for some self-inner examination.
It is my speculation that if my dream was known,
I’m telling you it’s true,
I think 40 acres would due.
A buffer to the outside world at times,
away from the madness, the craziness, and the crimes.
Some say the world is going to Hell,
some say it’s going in a handbasket.
I know it’s far from peachy keen and all is not well.
I don’t need all that hate and negativity, I’d blow a gasket.
So, just give me those 40 acres, I’d be a happy man.
Now to figure out how to get those 40 acres, and if I can.
Yes, I think I’d then have it all,
just my little dot on the map,
-there I could get away from it all.
and there I ‘m sure I could have a real ball.
Or, I could just go and take a nap,
on this summer day and sleep until Fall.


After a successful career as a Senior Designer working with international mining companies, William David is retired now and living in Tucson, Az. He likes spending time now devoted to his passion: writing poetry.

“The Watch” by Elizabeth Merrick


Every day the delicate gold
circled my wrist, a gift
from someone loved a long time ago.
Today, the watchband clasp
mysteriously gave way,
watch tumbling through the air
from the stairs above the subway tracks.
My arm still felt its presence,
yet it had already hurtled
down onto the tracks,
the time vanished in which I could have changed
anything, fixed that clasp before it failed,
prevented the falling,
the losing.


Elizabeth L. Merrick lives in Somerville, Massachusetts. She and poetry have stayed together through thick and thin. She loves poetry that sees deeply into everyday moments, and that is her fondest aspiration for her own writing. Elizabeth is also a clinical social worker and health researcher.

“Avalon” by Caitlin Gemmell


A silvery mist
like cobwebs of feathers
wind brewing shivers
glided solemnly,
engulfed me.


Caitlin Gemmell is a writer and artist living on top of a hill in upstate New York. When not writing or creating, she spends her days: drinking tea, foraging for wild edibles, tending her garden, and wrangling her child, chickens, and a pig (who wandered here one summer night and never left).

“Elegy for Ernie” by Frank William Finney

(In Memory of Ernie Minichiello)

First time among friends
I didn’t hear you laugh.
All I could hear
were the engines outside
humming a dirge
at the traffic lights.


Frank William Finney is a New England poet who taught literature at Thammasat University in Thailand (1995-2020). His work appears in many small press magazines, journals, and anthologies.

“Moth” by Amanda Kelvey


Motherhood is expected to be beautiful
A butterfly touching the lives of all who see it
Graceful, perfect, and camera ready
But here I am, an ugly cousin
A nuisance, a copycat
Trying so hard to be something
Meet an expectation
A moth
While a butterfly will rest with its wings closed
I’m here with mine open
Open and exhausted
Exhausted and exposed
There is no filter to change the appearance of these drab colored wings
For what I thought they were was the reality that no one speaks about
They are not all the times my child has chosen dad over me
They are not all the tears I shed alone in a dark corner of a room
They are not the times I thought I wasn’t enough
They are not the times I thought I wasn’t doing it right
Instead, they are the embodiment of my soul transforming into a strength that is more powerful than a butterfly could ever be capable of


Amanda Kelvey is a family medicine physician practicing in a community health center in Fall River, Massachusetts. She’s a born and raised New Englander who just can’t bring herself to stomach the renowned seafood cuisine. She considers herself an amateur cyclist and mindfulness enthusiast. When she isn’t reading or writing she can be found learning about bravery and strong-willed determination from her toddler son Owen. She is currently working on her debut novel.

“Saying Farewell” by Kelly Sargent


Chlorophyll surrenders, and
Royal Red Maple foliage sways its way onto the shimmering water beside my cabin.
A crimson canopy parts to allow sunlight a dappling on my doorstep at dawn.
Autumn proudly stands its ground.

A Quaking Aspen trembles in even the most well-intentioned breeze,
and bequeaths a quilting of gold to my pond.

Dewdrop tears cling to blue reeds stooping over my sun-lit water.
Morning mourns the moon.
“She returns tonight,” reassuring ripples whisper. “I promise to hold her
until you return to say your goodbye.”


Born and adopted in Luxembourg, Kelly Sargent grew up with a deaf twin sister in Europe and the United States. Being hard-of-hearing, she blissfully enjoys playing the piano and a pink ukulele for an audience of one.