by Adam D. Fisher, 2022

Trying to keep

awake on the LIE

while going 70,

I blink, turn up the radio

lick my fingers to wet

my eyelids, catch

myself weaving

into other

lanes,

feel like a kid trying

to color

in the lines except

if I go over these lines,

I will get killed.

by Charlotte Heotis, edited by Peter Heotis, 2022

Those who fish for trout

Go where beauty is

Where air is incense, where

No poison strains.

Congenial friends may share

These lonely streams,

But they must stay past bend

Or waterfall.

Testing oneself is best

When done alone.

We try to learn the secrets

Of the stream

How currents run , what drifts

In quiet depths

0r sweeps around the stones

to tempt a fish;

what artifice can stir

the same desire

with feathers and some fur

a barb within

A trout is never trusting

We learn by using

Simple, ancient gear,

The history of an art-

And we learn patience, too,

Sometimes the hardest part.

The solitude,

Relief from care,

Frustrating doubt

About our angling skills-

These stay with those who fish for trout

by Anne Kelly-Edmunds, 2022

Her golden-petaled crown

surrounds a burnt-sienna center

seeded with possibilities.

by Adam D. Fisher, 2022

I like the art room at the museum—

a nice space, lots of light

through skylights. I change

behind a screen, put on a robe

which I remove when posing.

Today there are museum goers who want

to try their hand at figure drawing.

Of course I sit motionless. At first my mind

goes blank. Then I meditate focusing

on my breath and looking at

a spot on the wall. Later,

I anticipate my drive home,

stopping at the super market—

eggs, milk, bread. And I’d

better get gas. The

station near the Post Office

has the best price. When I get home

my girls will be playing with dolls.

My husband, so handsome,

home from nursing at the hospital

will start dinner. Later

the kids will go up

for baths and to bed.

We’ll read the girls some stories

then Jack and will get

to sit on the couch

and have a glass of wine.

We’ll neck like a couple

of teenagers and he’ll unclasp my bra

and take my breasts in his hands,

and then we’ll go upstairs and

make love. Oh, there’s

the alarm—time to get dressed.

What a great day-dream

that will come true.

by Adam D Fisher, 2022

Cicadas are the garden’s continuo

a gentle bass background

under dove’s early coo,

cardinals’ proclamation of presence.

Deep under maple shade

green and white hostas thrive

with ferns and woodruff. The great

blue-gray spruce rises like a bearded

sage near peonies whose purple

and pink flowers are an extravagant

welcome to more modest ivy geraniums.

Birds feed in front of rose of Sharon, prodigious

summer bloomers in pink and purple, high above

hydrangeas adorned with white, blue and pink balls.

Lythrum is fading white while anemones hold

budding promise of blue September flowers. Wygelia

is  a wan memory of spring, but palest pink

baby’s breath is a small cloud near the grass.

Purple balloon flowers and feathery

Russian sage rise against the gray fence.

Spent Japanese irises are next to

gaudy yellow-orange rudebeckia

while phlox, pink and white,+ are next to

yellow “Peace,” roses.

Yes. Peace.

by Charlotte Heotis, edited by Peter Heotis, 2022

oh, Azure skies with sculptured clouds

That movement on the winds rely

Your grander delights my eye

And lures me, to fly.

In reverie I’m lifted up

And floating in the blue

Awed, overwhelmed, astonished by the view

Indeed born up in a way-

Now, if you think this is delirious

Sit back-relax and dream

For all life is a Wonderland

Staid, inert-or extreme.

Oh, that seed or breath from which the world was born

Floating into the abyss and out of the mist

It’s motion to the ebb and flow

To make each molecule to grow

How, oh how we all marvel and watch so

Each atom take its place

And fill each empty space

Lake and sky, eternity, humanity, life!

by Charlotte Heotis, edited by Peter Heotis, 2022

The goblins are a comin’

They’re traipsing up my walk

Some look mighty ghoulish

Speaking in such a gibberish

They have unearthly grins

Some I’m sure are aliens

There’s animals and ghastly insects

And humans with grotesques defects

Fairies dancing on the lawn

Even a cavorting little fawn

Do you think this is all a dream?

Of course not, it’s just Halloween!

by Adam D Fisher, 2022

The street is quiet now.

The garbage truck

rumbled though an hour ago.

 

The few cars pass slowly

under trees that arch over the road

shading it from hot sun.

 

The road curves around the pond

passing neat lawns, rows of tall arborvitae.

White roses and blue salvia provide quiet color.

 

A dark eyed child in seersucker

shorts digs in the sand box,

another squeaks quietly on the swing.

 

A heavy man floats in the pale blue pool

while a woman in a wide straw hat

lays on a lounge sleeping.

 

Frogs croak unseen by the pond’s reeds,

others swim or rest by the shore.

 

A sparrow grasps a slowly swaying branch

where it wipes its beak.

 

A great white egret’s long legs wade

slowly searching for fish.

 

A dozen ducks float, the male Mallards’

heads iridescent in the sun.

 

A woman in a white dress

sits grasping her knees looking at the pond.

by Adam D Fisher, 2022

I pull a tomato plant

from its plastic pack,

its fine white roots

vein the dark soil.

My trowel parts the earth,

and after I lower the roots

I cover and tamp it down,

knowing that

with water and sun

tomatoes will grow

without my even looking.

by Charlotte Heotis, edited by Peter Heotis, 2022

Erupting

Lava throwing

Pouring

Soil eroding

Snowing

Shifting blinding

Lighting

Fire igniting

Blowing

Life destroying

Foaming

Waves soaring

In the earth it’s

Growing, groaning

Ever evolving

Hush