Fleeting

The ocean is empty
again. Here and there

a small galaxy of scales
marks where a bluefin

swallowed a herring.
The victim's scales

swirl in the turbulence
of the departed

tuna now bearing off at
high speed. Then each vortex

slows and stops. The sinking
scales gleam like diamonds

from a spilled necklace
then they dim. Finally

they wink out at depth.



From Quicksilver, Kenneth Brower, March 2014, National Geographic. Submitted by James Brush.

Cocoons: A Fibonacci Poem

We
are
becoming more
and more relaxed
with uncertainty, more and more
relaxed with groundlessness, more and more relaxed with

not having walls around us to keep us
protected in a little box
or cocoon.�Enlightenment
we do
not
have.



From The Bearable Lightness of Being by Pema Ch�dr�n, March 2014, Shambhala Sun. Submitted by Ali Znaidi.

Symbols that make up the breaking girl by Helen Rickerby

First comes feet, on tippy tippy

toe � a stretching, a reaching
for approval, perfection, a cracking
a creaking, a split and a snap, but nothing
that a good length of tape and some newly brokenin shoes can�t fix, shoes with the insides torn
out like an inquisition, then beaten and slashedlittle dancers, little digits, they carry her away



The next, a cliche�, but an oldy and a goody,

The Dilemma

Picture this.
A man spends a
long bus journey
groaning over a very full bladder.
The bus finally pulls into a station
for a brief stop
and the guy rushes out,
leaving his bag on board.

But there�s a problem:
all the toilets are closed.
He runs around,
one muscle-twitch
away from humiliation,
looking for someone to open them.

Then, out of the corner of his eye,
he sees the bus pulling away,
with his possessions.

It�s a dilemma worthy
(well, almost)
of Hamlet:
to pee or not to pee?



Taken from 'Stage Struck: Frankly, my dear, you gotta make �em give a damn' in The Irish Times, 3 April 2014. Submitted by Taidgh Lynch.

Do You Have?

week one:
pattern for knitted
swimming trunks
will pay postage

week two:
Record by The Turtles
She�s Rather Be With Me
willing to pay all costs

week three:
Eye needed for an emu
(Rod Hull�s 70cm/27 1/2 in puppet).
Will pay costs

week four:
knitting pattern for a
lady�s jumper with a
blue and white Chinese
willow pattern on the front

week five:
Aretha Franklin CD
or cassette, The First Time
Ever I Saw Your Face.
will pay all costs.

week six:
Microwave Cookery Books
Will pay postage.

week seven:
Manual or photocopy
for a Sharp QL310
portable memory display
typewriter. Will pay costs.

week eight:
Instructions for a sony
ericksson K7001 mobile
phone. will pay costs

week nine:
Copy of the late Steve Conway�s song,
My Thanks To You.
Will reply to all letters.
Will pay postage and expenses.

week ten:
Hayne�s Ford Focus
LX 2011 car manual.
Will pay costs.

week eleven:
Knitting pattern for
anything using two odd
pins, one small and one
large. Will pay any costs.

week twelve:
DVD of the film, The
Merry Widow.



Adverts from the 'Do You Have?' page of Yours magazine, various issues spring 2012. Submitted by Anna Percy.

National Poetry Writing Month #NatPWriMo

National Poetry Writing Month is an annual project during National Poetry Month that encourages participants to write a poem each day in April.  

Abbreviated as NaPoWriMo, you can find it on Twitter and other social networks with the hashtag #NaPoWriMo. 

NaPoWriMo founder Maureen Thorson will post daily prompts on the NaPoWriMo site through the month and there are also prompts at The Daily Post.

If you�re sharing your poems online, you can submit your site to the NaPoWriMo showcase and allow other participants can find you. Also tag your posts with #NaPoWriMo on Wordpress.

Window in the House of Mirrors, Market Street, 1889

At the top
is a clear-eyed maiden
whose lips smile joy.
Below,
and to the left, framed
in long hair
is a horribly sensuous face,
one
eye closed in a leer
above
thick slobbering lips.

Next, is the stupid fat face
of a glutton. Then comes
the hard cold face
of a woman not much
older than the young girl above,
the fifth
face. In the narrow
ell of the house,
behind her is that embittered
old man with cruel eyes,
his hairy moustache
cushioning bulbous jaws.



A description from a file in Denver Public Library of stone carvings on an old Colorado brothel. Via Soiled Doves: Prostitution in the Early West by Anne Seagraves (1994, Wesanne Publications). 'Cushioned' changed to 'cushioning'. Submitted by Angela Readman.