33

By P.C. Scheponik

Regal Red Tailed

He sits, solitary watcher

on the telephone wire.

A young red-tailed hawk,

a crown prince surveying

his future kingdom.

His stature, puffed

in February’s chill.

His feathers,

royal cape draped

about the shoulders

of his folded wings.

This would-be ascendant,

future king of sky and field.

This warrior raptor

whose beak and talons

whose vision and wings

will make small earthbound

animals yield to shadows and fears.

He holds court there

on the lonely station of an otherwise

empty telephone wire—

a force to be reckoned with,

a primal desire to survive,

to rule with the urgency

of wings spread wide enough

to block out the sun for anyone in his path.

P.C. Scheponik is a lifelong poet who lives by the sea with his wife, Shirley, and their shizon, Bella. His writing celebrates nature, the human condition, and the metaphysical mysteries of life. He has published four collections of poems: Psalms to Padre Pio (National Centre for Padre Pio, INC), A Storm by Any Other Name and Songs the Sea has Sung in Me (PS Books, a division of Philadelphia Stories), and And the Sun Still Dared to Shine (Mazo Publishers). His work has also appeared in numerous literary journals, among them, Adelaide, Visitant, Red Eft Review, Boned, Time of Singing, WINK, Poetry Pacific, Streetlight Press and others. He is a 2019 Pushcart Prize nominee

January 15, 2019

Power Lines

By Amanda Crum 

As tall grass

wavers

inside a citrine twilight

we whisper of specters

trapped inside the old barn

imagine haints

swinging from the beams

where tobacco leaves

wither

You speak

of decay and clover

because here they hold hands

but all I can see

is a church

born of tortured sunsets

and cicadas

a place to worship

caught between power lines

Amanda Crum is a writer and artist whose work has appeared in publications such as Barren Magazine and Eastern Iowa Review and in several anthologies, including Beyond The Hill and Two Eyes Open. She is the author of two novels, The Fireman's Daughter and Ghosts Of The Imperial. Her first chapbook of horror-inspired poetry, The Madness In Our Marrow, was shortlisted for a Bram Stoker Award nomination in 2015; her story "A Shimmer In The Parlor" was a finalist for the J.F. Powers Prize in Short Fiction in 2019. Amanda's middle-grade fiction book, The Darkened Mirror, will be published in the summer of 2019 by Riversong Books. She currently lives in Kentucky with her husband and two children.

CULTURE OF TODAY DESTRUCTS  CULTURE OF THE PAST 

By Martina Rimbaldo

Army of half bare zombies

Marching through the alley of middle-aged cultured town

Eclectic sounds  coming from the background

Forces stone blocks to tremor and tumble down

Massive drinking to  stop your reason thinking

The limit is expelled by  grotesque  burnish -towny  colored  smelling  vomit

Saddened alley remains  silent

We bear the rotten fruit of our tragic youth

No manners turn man into animals

Martina Rimbaldo is a 28-year-old women who lives and works in Croatia. She always wears a pen and a notebook in her purse in the case of a sudden inspiration in order to write it down. Her poem will be published in Nightingale & Sparrow magazine in August. She loves to paint abstract paintings  ,  read religious books, watch horror as well as old movies. Her goal is to be a good person.