18-53

Haiku

Each life a novel
Beginning, middle, and end
Last pages left blank

No two blanks alike
Nor where and when they get filled
Ghost writers take note

by Sharon Wood Wortman

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With four children, 11 grandchildren, a great grand, and a full-time husband, Sharon Wood Wortman faithfully (mostly) attends the meetings of her writing/critique group: 29thstreetwriters.com

18-52

The Skirt

Yes. For our dinner date, I'm wearing
an embroidered skirt: hand-woven, blue

as cornflowers, with white daisies stitched
in vertical rows, a family heirloom purchased

by a cousin of a cousin, repeatedly re-gifted
until it came to lucky me. Yes, the waistband

is tight. Its pleats emphasize my tummy's mound
in a way that resembles the swell of yeasted dough

in a bread pan. Do you remember the last time
I called? You hung up. Sure, it was 6 AM,

but I wanted to talk about us. Since then I've gained
a friend. She won't give her name but calls

the landline to ask about my love life.
It's wrong to lie, but I embellish,

just to hear the pickaxe in her voice.
Odd, all the flattering clothing I own,

the stretchy things that glide over my curves,
have disappeared into the arcane recesses

of my closet. This skirt was all that I could find.
And for that reason, no, I can't change

into anything more suitable for our date.
Sorry. But go ahead, have dinner

without me. When she calls,
I'll tell her where she can find you.

by Peggy Turnbull

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Peggy Turnbull enjoys living in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, a corner of the Rust Belt where cheese, bratwurst, and beer remain economic powerhouses. A retired university librarian, she finds poems among the algae and alewives of Lake Michigan's shore. Read her work at: peggyturnbull.blogspot.com

18-51

Letters

Love letters lure, levitate,
legend's letters liberate.
Letters label latterly
life's libretto lastingly:
Letter landscapes, lovesick letters,
lazy, lavish, lipstick letters,
letter litter, limelight letters,
loose-leaf, loose-lipped landslide letters,
linking life's lanes limitlessly,
labelling lives luminously.

Looped letters lull, looped letters lull,
looped letters lull, looped letters lull,
looped letter's lot. Logistical
letters label leaflets, lorries,
left luggage, landmarks, lavatories,
lead ladies, loonies, liberalize,
label landing lanes likewise,
livid legislator's letters,
lucid liberator's letters,
legitimizing liberty.
Lee's longhand lacks lucidity.

by Alex Dreppec

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Alex Dreppec will keep on copying little poems that no one would publish otherwise like YELP (“You yokel”, yelled Yasmin’s yachtsman, / yoghurt-yearning, yokeful yen. / “You yob yielded yukky yam! / Yeasty yolk!” yapped Yasmin’s yachtsman.) into what is supposed to be his bio as long as no one stops him. www.dreppec.de