Category: The Short of It

Lisa Tomey-Zonneveld

Published on by Susi Bocks8 Comments
DEAD GOOD LEGACIES – Unsplash

LAST KISSES DON’T LIE

soul kisses, it was there
vapored liquor breath
with resistance she succumbed
perceived as invitation
one-sided delight moved forth
deceived by yet another lie
another false try
while her ex-lover slept
she took the house key
cooked him waffles and bacon
sent him to work
never to see him again

TO FEAST

she harvested kisses
canned them in blue glass jars
placed them in the cellar
for a new season
she sat at the kitchen table
with thoughts of her day
wondered when she
would get a kiss again
it had been so long
a knock at the door
two uniformed men
she knew
no more kisses to harvest
she stepped down to the cellar
took a blue jar from the shelf
carried it upstairs
popped open the lid
kisses devoured her angst
she drifted into splendid sleep
dreamt of those sweet kisses
awoke to the scent
of the woolen blanket
issued army strong

DEATH STAYS

the C.O. was told
another soldier was gone
as she placed their name
on the death certificate
she woke up in tears, in fear

APPARITION

it was like an apparition
there were shadows
shades of willow greens, browns, golds
truly you would know
love is never buried
it unearths the ground
leaving not one as dead
but always safe and sound

~~~

Lisa Tomey-Zonneveld is the founder and manager of Prolific Pulse Press LLC and a widely published poet and writer. She is the editor of numerous anthologies and is an editor for Fine Lines Journal. Tomey-Zonneveld has served as Poet Laureate of Garden of Neuro Institute and resides in North Carolina. She was first featured in 2020 and then again in 2022. Lisa was also one of the 2021 Pushcart Prize Nominees of The Short of It for her piece Silence. You can find all her features and reblogs HERE.

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If you’d like to be featured on The Short of It in the future,
click here for the submission guidelines.

– Vol 1 The Sound of Brilliance and Vol 2 Reflections & Revelations on Amazon

Gypsie-Ami Offenbacher-Ferris

Published on by Susi Bocks4 Comments
Johannes Plenio – Unsplash

Night’s Blanket

Darkness has settled around the house 
the sun pulling up the night sky 
to cover his warmth and dim his rays
while taking the morn to others   

Mother moon slips in halfway 
mercurial in her moods of disclosure 
unable to shine bright from within 
she steals the sun’s light as he sleeps 

Animals all either rise or slumber 
nocturnal creatures roam to feed
while diurnal’s find a place to shelter 
safe and sound until morning 

I pad down the hallway on bare feet 
the soft slapping sound reminds me
it is time to sleep my body needing rest 
turn the lights out going to bed alone  

One Wall

One wall holds trinkets
garnered from vendors, 
little tents along alleyways 
in valleys and on beaches 
of lands far and near. 

One wall holds baskets and gadgets
and things mundane to others 
yet most dearly loved by me,
colors overlapping into an organized  
chaos within my vivid imagination. 

One wall holds items necessary 
to living, a knife block, a shelf and a tray. 
A spice rack resides there 
and a hook for fancy towels to dry wet hands 
and a pad for lifting hot things. 

One wall holds dear photo memories 
of the life that was lived. Babies born, 
marriages complete, children now
parents themselves and flowers long gone, 
but all will live on within me. 

Sailing Ship

Interminable darkness
thicker than oil 
Smothers the living 
no conscious thought

Upon the horizon 
a ship tiny is far away 
Surrounded by light 
buoyed by hope 

This sailing ship powered 
by the winds of love
One island left behind 
swallowed up by the night 

A new island ahead 
made bright by its light 
Vibrant greens and flowers await 
opening wide at the ship’s wake 

Sun’s warm rays follow it in
surrounding the bow 
caressing the stern 
A luminous light in the dark night 

Docking it rests 
for a brief moment in time 
Until it’s gone again
leaving the island disappearing behind 

Time To Sleep

Mother Nature’s splendor 
turns bright yellows and pretty whites
into spots of orange and brown

Vibrant green leaves flutter 
to the ground singing a rustling tune
fading into shades of red 

Autumnal breezes cool earth’s crust
sending a time-immemorial 
to deep rich soil and plowed fields 

Migratory birds flock overhead 
to warmer climes with temperate blue waters
and ancient nesting grounds

Deer rut and butterflies mate
their young to be born in the
earth’s awakening spring warmth

Bears forage for berries and meat
slipping into their hideaways protected 
from winters wrath and man’s gun

Quiet blankets the cooling ground
signaling Mother Earth’s creatures 
and foliage that it’s time to sleep

~~~

Gypsie-Ami Offenbacher-Ferris lives in Southport, NC. Published in Whispers & Echoes, 50 Give or Take, Visual Verse, Spillwords, and Wounds I Healed. She received an Honorable Mention in Tales from the Moonlit Path 2021 in their Abandoned Places Halloween Challenge. She has poems published in both the 24-Hour Poetry Marathon Anthology Publications – 2022 and 2023. Gypsie-Ami has recently completed a chapbook merging her two loves, poetry and flowers, titled Reflections of a Woman’s Life. This is her second feature this year with The Short of It.

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– Vol 1 The Sound of Brilliance and Vol 2 Reflections & Revelations on Amazon

Pat Alderman

Published on by Susi Bocks32 Comments
Nuno Antunes – Unsplash

Piece of Peace

With only a piece of peace
I have a  hole
that may never feel whole again.

Beware of War

Bombs falling
people crying
Bullets blazing
people dying
Why do our leaders
keep on lying?

Information Overload

Turn off your cellphone
Put on your trainers
Take a walk in nature
It should be a no-brainer.

If Not Now, When?

You think you have forever
until you don’t.
Then it’s too late.

The Other

If I’m not your Mother
or your Brother
you probably say I’m just the Other.
Overlooked, a voice just smothered.

Who’s the Animal Now?

Snarling, yanking
teeth showing
at either end of the leash.
Who is the animal now?

~~~

Pat is a retired federal librarian and creator of e-quipsblog. She is an aspiring poet who helped establish the Mountainlight Society of Poets Retreat in Crozet, VA. This is Pat’s first feature with The Short of It.

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If you’d like to be featured on The Short of It in the future,
click here for the submission guidelines.

– Vol 1 The Sound of Brilliance and Vol 2 Reflections & Revelations on Amazon

Selma Martin

Published on by Susi Bocks19 Comments
Redowana Rashid Hridy – Unsplash

Routine

Easy for you to assign blame 
to the weaker in the clan
your stance sums respect 
standardized by elders
no softies get auditions 

You Will Never Know 

I saw you rowing stealthily 
from the pale shore 
suspended in purple mist
sent up a prayer— 
that’s what big sisters do—
your upswing or your undoing 

Cleansed (of excess) 

A small empty boat I was
floating in the lake of knowledge
small I return to my home port 
but empty I am no more 

You Smiled at Me 

One more round—
oh, how the years add up
I learn to live without 
our visits
In the pocket of the coat 
I kept for you
I pull out your favorite lipstick.
Slowly I walk to the mirror and 
swipe the stick on my upper lip,
below the Cupid’s bow
I smack my lips together,
tenderly, and watch you smile 
back at me in my reflection. 

Grief

At the end of the month 
is my birthday 
mail will arrive, friends will text 
by the dozen
but when the landline rings 
I will not answer 
I already know 
who it cannot be 
that’s calling

~~~

Selma Martin is a retired English teacher with 20 years of teaching children ESL. She has been published on Medium, Short Fiction Break, The Poetorium At Starlight, MasticadoresUSA, and Spillwords. In July 2023, she published her debut poetry collection, In The Shadow of Rainbows – EIF Publisher. Selma lives in Japan. This is Selma’s first feature with The Short of It.

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If you’d like to be featured on The Short of It in the future,
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– Vol 1 The Sound of Brilliance and Vol 2 Reflections & Revelations on Amazon

John Grey

Published on by Susi Bocks4 Comments
Bartochette – Unsplash

THE POEM THAT SAYS SORRY

Dawn discovered me,
at the end of previous night,
down a slope by the side of the road, 
double-crossed by thirst.

Stomach handcuffed,
gaze stupid,
accused by my conscience,
laughed at by the field sparrows –

I was man as nothing more than body,
swollen in some places, rubbed raw in others,
in the arms of a ditch,
when they could have been a woman’s.

What can I say?
I was restless. I was bored.
I shined myself up
and went looking for alcoholic favors.

But drink did me none.
Merely heavied my head like lead.
Lit up my chest with whiskey fire.
Beat up on my guts, barely let them live.

I’m sorry dear.
I should have been with you.
But you were in your dreams.
And I was true to life.

JUST IN CASE YOU DIDN’T KNOW

I am from a different
English language.

Even now, when I’m writing anew,
I’m confronted by old phrases.

The spelling, the pronunciations,
will always be here,
for imagination 
is as much echo as creation.

My birthplace doesn’t betray me,
but it relies on my thoughts for survival.
And it speaks with an accent broad enough
to let in daylight from the other side of the world.

So pardon me my colour, my theatre, 
the “sh” in my schedule.
my round red tom-ah-to,  
and the petrol in my tank.

I may look like you
but my voice is from another place.

I do my best to disguise it,
but it’s like some people in this country. 
Even to save itself,
it won’t wear a mask.

REACTION

If a gunman came down the road snarling
and pointed his revolver at your chest
and said to you, “Here, choose,
would you like it in the gut, the heart,
or the head
whichever is the quickest,
though it don’t bother me
one way or the other,”
would you stand there
and mutter something like,
“Go ahead and pull the trigger.”

A woman expresses her love
right there in your presence,
first with her eyes, then 
with words themselves,
and you ought to be stunned
but you’ve always been 
prepared for the situation,
so you take it all in,
then softly, deliberately,
whisper, “I love you too.”

In other words, the gunman 
doesn’t realize you’re armed as well,
reach for your weapon,
shoot him in the chest.

No need to pick the woman
up off the floor.
She’s overjoyed.
That’s nowhere near dead.
The bang is silent
but deadly.

~~~

John Grey is an Australian poet and US resident, recently published in New World Writing, California Quarterly, and Lost Pilots. Latest books – Between Two Fires, Covert, and Memory Outside the Head are available through Amazon. Work upcoming in the Seventh Quarry, LaPresa, and Doubly Mad. John was first featured in 2020 and then again in 2022. You can click HERE to review them. Selected pieces of his work were published in The Short of It – Volume 1 – The Sound of Brilliance and Volume 2 – Reflections & Revelations. This is his second feature this year.

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If you’d like to be featured on The Short of It in the future,
click here for the submission guidelines.

– Vol 1 The Sound of Brilliance and Vol 2 Reflections & Revelations on Amazon

Stephen Buchanan

Published on by Susi Bocks20 Comments
Jack White – Unsplash

Reverberations

Thunder rumbled
in the distance
I felt humbled
by existence
As rain patterned
all that mattered
was near and dear

Unrequited

I said “Love you,”
which seemed okay,
since it felt true
for me that day. 
Though you, my dear,
were insincere
with your ardour.

Happenstances

I sit and read
and lose the day
having no need
to run away
Convivial
yet trivial
Lucky for me

When I Grow Up

I’ve not much time
to figure out
whatever I’m
to be about
Options to try
are less as my
career end nears

Up and Away

A beautiful
balloon aloft
as meaningful
illusions waft
through thoughtless air
with dreamlike care
to fly so high

~~~

Stephen W. Buchanan has been writing for himself for years but shares his poetry at “If You Haven’t Got A Sonnet” https://muttado.com Stephen was first featured in 2020 and then again in 2022. You can find his previous features HERE. His work was also featured in The Short of It’s Volume 1 and Volume 2. This is his second feature this year.

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If you’d like to be featured on The Short of It in the future,
click here for the submission guidelines.

– Vol 1 The Sound of Brilliance and Vol 2 Reflections & Revelations on Amazon

Candice Louisa Daquin

Published on by Susi Bocks7 Comments
Anne Nygård – Unsplash

green

your downcast eyes, the color of absinthe switch of
your merciless, marching intelligence, the
humor, the passion lines
pulling on your cigarette, getting me aroused and nervous
without trying, you command all attention
wit is sharper than a sword
when you didn’t talk to me
it was like a blonde flower, turning her lights out
I’m speaking to you in a language, I outlawed
we only trust those like us
who smoked and drank and have to show on our tired faces
the weariness of living
catching in the darkness like a skinned rock, thrown out to sea
on Brighton beach
where we’ll always be young and beautiful
me chasing you in the cold sea
you disappearing into green waves

fahrenheit before the storm

you stay like migrating butterflies, only a short time
before going on with your pilgrimage
and those who want more of you
watch the skies with only memories
I would try to unpick
the moves we made around each other
attempting to gauge what was real and imaginary
if you read this; yes, it is about you
and if you wonder; yes, I do
and if you call for me; I will come
to the summit where people who are strangers and known
stand and expose themselves to
the terror and beauty of their desire

listen

we who have lived in this world a while
can hear beneath the arch and curl
if we really listen
those hidden things people do not tell
and I thought I saw
in the corners of your motion
something stir
an abacus counting sense and nonsense
on the high cheeks of a woman
who’s quit
doing what she’s told

waiting for you to read my mind

can you see me?
I’m standing waist-deep
waiting for you to read my mind
like you did once with the alacrity of a gymnast
in the throes of passion
braille
morse code
signs and wonders
photos overexposed
ringing phones in the night
knowing the destination in your fingers and finding
without map or lights switched on, blacking-out cries
to be found, oh god
to be found again
by you

thursday flirtation

I am drawn to the shy fruiting shape of her mouth
as we talk and artfully avoid
what is undisclosed in space existing
between strangers, then become friends
not yet more
will she understand? unbutton one permission
without need to drink liquor or gather foreign courage
from the same source we all go
unsure and burning up with tiptoeing fever

two cars going in separate directions

one moment I am holding a glass
of your words
believing myself loved
the next the house is being emptied
sold for next family to inhabit, my footsteps
a time I held onto
boxes of memories like a kite
if you let go of the string
they rise higher out of sight
I can pack the entirety of me
in one small bag and still have room for heartache
the radio host warns us of impending rain, another storm
we threw sharp glances at each other until there was no more
blood left inside to keep warm
stop lights blinking in humid downpour
 … get out and run toward
something already buried and underground
I hear the gear shift, watch in rear mirror
the outline
of you
grow
gradually thinner
against
orange light
and the sound
of someone
crying out

remember?

lost my memory in a dish I left outside
the rain filled it up and soon thoughts
sodden and wrinkled
were illegible
soot and smoke gathered
like regretful children with dirty hands
smudging their best pictures
late summer rain drowned out
the sound of me calling
you would have heard but you had
long stopped listening
when the trees were still straight
not bent and crooked offering up their rotten roots
then you were a woman who loved someone else
I was a piece of paper
too wet to decipher
had you wanted to
and you did not
you did not

~~~

Daquin is an Editor, Writer, Psychotherapist, and Publisher. In addition to working as a therapist, she edits for five magazines and two publishing houses. Candice was first featured in 2022. Her piece, Phantasma, featured in 2022, was nominated for the Push Cart Prize. You can find her reblogs, features, and interviews HERE. This is her second feature of 2024.

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If you’d like to be featured on The Short of It in the future,
click here for the submission guidelines.

– Vol 1 The Sound of Brilliance and Vol 2 Reflections & Revelations on Amazon

Duane L Herrmann

Published on by Susi Bocks3 Comments
Margaret Polinder – Unsplash

Life Consequence

Our kindnesses that no one else knows of tell the true measure of ourselves. When no one else is looking, our true nature shines. So, what do you do when no one else will know? Do you rise to your most noble self? Or do you look out for number one? If the latter, you may have a later opportunity to improve; if not, you will carry that inability with you, a burden to drag you down. We never know what opportunities may await us to demonstrate our greatness. Failure is human; success – our best nature. We can try.

MEMORIES BE

Memories can change
be overlaid,
gain new meaning,
become
a friend they weren’t
before,
but effort,
progress,
must be made.

FINDING EARTH

We thought we
were going to the moon
but found the earth instead:
blue-white ball
suspended, alone, and single
in expanse of empty space:
one home
for one mankind,
we are one together.

ONE DOWN

Female sucks blood
eagerly,
hungrily,
for her children,
not looking
for her safety…

SPLAT!!!

One more
mosquito dead!

DINING IN

Sitting here
waiting for food
is what we do.
I’ve strung my lines,
food will come.
I’m energetic,
but now wait
for flyer
to be tangled.

LITTLE BODY

The body of a little boy,
just two years old,
washed up on shore,
his family fleeing
war and drought,
denied refuge.
What a relief,
ignorant sighed
thinking a terrorist dead.

~~~

Herrmann has published a sci-fi novel, nine poetry books, history, short stories, and more. He has carried kittens in his mouth, pet snakes, and conversed with owls, careful not to anger them! All despite a traumatic, abusive childhood, dyslexia, ADHD, cyclothymia, a form of Mutism, anxiety disorder, and PTSD. Herrman was first featured in 2020 and then again in 2022. This is his second feature this year. You can find all his work published on The Short of It HERE.

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If you’d like to be featured on The Short of It in the future,
click here for the submission guidelines.

– Vol 1 The Sound of Brilliance and Vol 2 Reflections & Revelations on Amazon

Carolyn Crossley a/k/a VixenofVerse

Published on by Susi Bocks4 Comments
Tiffany Combs – Unsplash
I LOVE YOU

I was a foaming, thrashing, fast-moving river.
You were the wild, windswept ocean into which I flowed.
We came together in passionate embraces.
Kisses that scorched our mouths with their intensity.
We made love as if it were the first time and the last time.
As if we could not exchange enough passion from body to body.
I cried out at the moment of orgasm, your name on my lips.
You held me afterward when passion was quite spent.
We had no need of words, of promises, of I love you.
We were soul mates, twin flames who would always return.
Yet, in the end, I sent you away even though I knew you cared.
I needed, I love you, the words and the actions that never came.
 
SPEAK SOFTLY – ACROSTIC POEM

Speak whispered words of love.
Praise me to all your friends,
Endeavour to understand me.
Ask me for favours I will give.
Kiss me morning and night.          
Smile when you come home.
Offer help when I am in pain.
Flirt and compliment me.
Take time to spend with me.
Love me more each day.
You are my last love – stay.
 
THE YEARNING (Shadorma)

The yearning
Is deep in my heart
I crave you
I desire
You – in all possible ways
You are everything.
 
You are the sun
In the bright morning
You are light
You are love
You protect me from the dark
That lurks, out of reach. 
 
CHERITA – Mind Flight
 
stardust children
 
we were Earth born
gravity holds us here
 
we fly with our minds
imagination is superb
we return to the stars

CHERITA TERBALIK  - Mad

don't leave me in the
darkness of my mind
       I shall go mad
 
       I want you to help
       me to escape, and yet
 
       I know only I can do that
    
ON THE SPECTRUM
 
I try to understand Autism.
But I believe only the Autistic do.
Black and white world with no grey,
Just does not compute with me.
I wish you well in your life,
Even though it does not include me.
But my heart yearns to be in touch,
To know where you live and that you are well.
As an adult, I have to respect your choices,
But my mother's heart aches over that choice.
I only ever tried to be supportive,
I never argued with you, so when
You are ready, please get back in touch.
You are my son and I love you.
My door is always open to you. 
  
LIFE AND DEATH (Skeltonic)
 
Dance, sing, laugh, and love a lot.
For life is short but death is not.
You have to give life all you've got,
Even when you think you have lost the plot.
Don't overthink, tie yourself in a knot.
Be clear and logical like a robot.
 
Always seek the brightest light.
Look for it in the darkest night.
Life is learning, it's quite a fight,
But, you know to do what is right,
In the darkness look for stars so bright,
Look! Look with all your might.
 
Time goes slowly then like lightning!
As you get older it is quite
frightening.
It's like a rope round your neck tightening.
Every experience, every step
heightening.
Your lessons left to learn- enlightening,
As you pass on to the light
brightening.

~~~

Carolyn Crossley, a/k/a ©VixenOfVerse, is a poet/haikuista/writer. Published Work – The Short of It – Vol 1 & Vol 2, Purr-fect Poetry – Cats Protection Anthology, Poetic Vision – Guide Dogs for the Blind Anthology, OWC Publishing – Shadows – An Anthology of Short Stories, Today’s Specials – A Selection of Literary Delights. Blog:  Backfromdarknesstolight.com. Carolyn was first featured in 2020 and again in 2022. This is her second feature this year. You can find all her work – reblogged or featured- by clicking HERE.

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If you’d like to be featured on The Short of It in the future,
click here for the submission guidelines.

– Vol 1 The Sound of Brilliance and Vol 2 Reflections & Revelations on Amazon

Karuna Mistry

Published on by Susi Bocks6 Comments
Natalie Wagner – Unsplash
Entrapment
 
When time is a web 1
Spider becomes death 2
 
1 Expands silken edge
Captures all in thread
 
2 Sucks life to an ebb
Ensures we are dead


Mindless World
 
Manifold days
Lost in this maze
 
Labyrinth tricks
Myriad matrix
 
Dizzying daze
Mindless haze
 
A pointless gaze
All useless ways
 
All routes inbound
No escape to be found
 
Lost in a mindless world


Service
 
Losing battle
We all know
 
Why invest
In someone
 
Who will
Not stay?
 
For love only
 
Rendezvous
 
You caught me
                                  off
guard
 
– I wasn’t ready.
 
You
   	weren’t
                 	playing
                              	       fair.
 
                Next time
I’ll be
      	         prepared.
                          
Until
     	we meet again,
 
                        Death…

Man on the Moon
 
Man of the moon
 	Will be with you soon
Point your telescope
 	Up at high noon
 
The man on the moon
 	Will see you soon
After his microscope
 	On the cusp of the lune
 
But don’t wait too long
 	As he will be gone
More man off the moon
 	Than on

~~~

Karuna Mistry is a British writer of Indian ethnicity. He has published poetry in various anthologies – sometimes paid. As well as poetry, drawing, and blogging, his creativity includes magazine editorship, photography, and design – his occupation by day is in research support. Karuna’s debut poetry and art book is entitled Sojourn: Transcending Seasons. This is Karuna’s second feature this year. You can read the first one HERE.
https://www.instagram.com/karunamistrypoetry/ https://karunacreations.wordpress.com/

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If you’d like to be featured on The Short of It in the future,
click here for the submission guidelines.

– Vol 1 The Sound of Brilliance and Vol 2 Reflections & Revelations on Amazon