Bio: James Lilliefors is a poet, journalist, and novelist, whose writing has appeared in Ploughshares, The Washington Post, Snake Nation Review, and elsewhere. He is the author of several novels and is a former writing fellow at the University of Virginia

Border Crossing Be kind (to those who appreciate kindness). Follow your bliss (within reason, in compliance with the law). Give back (to those who can use what you’re giving). Turn the other cheek (except when it’s time to turn the tables). Ask and you will receive (terms and conditions may apply). The world is your oyster (but be prepared for the crowds). With belief, anything is possible (other skills may also be required). Much of life is lived in the fine print. Inside the borders. Timidly. Keep your dreams, but not the foolish kind. The other kind: those bound with clarity, that cross borders, that skip the fine print…

For Paul Brookes’ Wildness challenge, day 6

Butterflied glass

Veins of a million leaves,
the marbling of stone,
ripple-light on water,
beaded scales of newly sloughed snakeskin
bright as dew drops,
dripping a rainbow prism.

Nature mimicking itself,
mirror reflection after reflection,

and we fumble with leaded glass,
enamel cloisonné,
molten fiery furnaced metals,
to try to replicate
the netted lace
of a butterfly wing.

Bio: Kerri Nicole McCaffrey taught English for many years—most recently at Lake Forest Academy on Chicago’s North Shore. While teaching, a huge goal she always had was to conduct poetry clubs— in order to attract more young people to express themselves through verse. Three of her own favorite poets are Jane Kenyon, Anne Sexton, and Sylvia Plath—all of whom have helped Kerri write better and navigate her way through life. A lover of the outdoors, Kerri hopes to one day hike the Appalachian Trail.

To Sylvia Plath or Anne Sexton

In the era you died— desiccated and insect eaten plunging thirty stories or more I parachuted away a small redwood seed gliding to safety. Then, I sadly watched you splinter in giant concussions even as the pillow of alluvial soil tried to save you not realizing you were a falling coffin– a wooden corpse. And I grew in the nutrients…

Bio: Theresa Werba (formerly Theresa Rodriguez) is the author of three books of poetry, most recently Sonnets, a collection of sixty-five sonnets (Shanti Arts, 2020). Her work has appeared in such journals as The Scarlet Leaf Review, The Wilderness House Literary Review, Spindrift, Mezzo Cammin, The Wombwell Rainbow, Fevers of the Mind, Serotonin,The Art of Autism, The Road Not Taken, and the Society of Classical Poets Journal. Her work ranges from forms such as the ode and sonnet to free verse, with topics ranging from neurodivergence, the writing process, love, loss, and aging, to faith and disillusionment. Her website is www.bardsinger.com, where you can view videos of her performance poetry and find information about her books. Follow Theresa on Instagram and Twitter @thesonnetqueen.

Autism Level 1 (Asperger’s) Speaks

 In a world of hyper-stimuli, Lights and sounds and touches, I retreat into the world within myself for relief. There…

art by Peter Paul Rubens

Bio:
Tova Beck-Friedman is a visual artist, filmmaker and poet. Her poems have been published in Whispers and Echoes magazine, Extinction Rebellion Creative Hub and Fevers of the Mind. Her poem Vertigo, is part of the Starry Night Anthology of The Ekphrastic Review.
In addition to writing, Tova fuses poetry and moving images to create cine-poems. Her films screened, among others, at The Poet House, NYC; Ó Bhéal International Poetry-Film Competition, Ireland; International Video Poetry Festival / Athens, Greece; The Film; Video Poetry Symposium, Los Angeles.;
Blissfest333 Poetry Film Festival and REELpoetry/HoustonTX

the picture: 

half-clad women flailing —
carried by men 
men waving swords —
men pulling 
women pushing —
struggling to extract
themselves from their abductors

the lecture: in front of a large screen my art history professor waxes lyrical about the superb painting technique employed by the 17th century artist Peter Paul Rubens…

I didn’t see Paul’s chosen form for last week until this morning. Obviously, I had to give it a whirl. It’s a Welsh form, gwawdodyn hir, six lines, the first four of nine syllables, the last couplet of ten syllables. All lines except line five have the same end rhyme. The rhythm must work in Welsh, but in English it’s difficult to get it balanced. More work needed on this.

Nightfall

Reminding us all life is finite,
trees afire where roosting birds alight,
sunset flames, the dark world-sky ignite,
then ashes feather-grey fledge twilight,
and all the butterfly delights of day
dim with the endless dark of deepest night.