The Bookends Review

The best love poems are
about the possibility of flight,
the phases of the moon
the endless Arctic night, a ring found
in the melting snow in spring.

They are about a
chimera of lust,
the dust train tracks make
carrying refugees
to an uncertain future.… ...continue reading

After the annulment of light
In the stubborn kiln of winter
There is a beginning that hurts.
You hear it in the troubled cry
Spun from treetops,
In the muffled bending of trees
Cracking off the frost.
When you wander through the streets
Stunned by the bright emergence,
The wakened sunshine,
You start to remember
The endless colors of the world:
The Adriatic with its whitened dazzle,
Michelangelo’s angel-bitten blue,
All the faded shades of longing
In the remnants of the Roman Forum.… ...continue reading

I. Then & Foreshadow

Blank page, dredged out fish bone
not so different, containers of what will be
and was.

Fossils. Left impressions, vestiges
in sand and smoke, crumbs of old
mixed with new light and sound.

II. Now, with Breathing

The living telephone wire. A laugh
I just had with you
ran over by the impulse of a cycling dryer.
Back to bleach and white,
penciled spheres around words
from a Yellow Pages. I see Psychotherapy,
there is only one name.… ...continue reading

for Lucy

our hands extend,
these palms are wading pools –
the waters of God’s love. let
your spirit wade into our hands.
allow the still surface to flood
your soul. allow yourself
to bask in these holy shallows.

you are crying, and lovely.
you are smiling, and beautiful.
we look unto you, and love you,
as you shower in God’s graces.

– Joseph Dahut… ...continue reading

Joan Gelfand’s reviews, stories, and poetry are in many national and international literary journals, including Rattle, Prairie Schooner, Kalliope, California Quarterly, Toronto Review, Marsh Hawk Review, and Levure Litteraire. She’s the Development Chair of the Women’s National Book Association and a member of the National Book Critics Circle. She also blogs for the Huffington Post and coaches writers. You can find out more about her here, as well as support the campaign for her new novel, Fear to Shred, here.

Please describe your duties as editor/writer.

I am a full time writer who speaks at conferences on getting published and on poetry and video. I coach writers around the country. Once a month, I host the San Francisco Poetry Podcast show which airs on line on U–Verse. … ...continue reading

Yet another storm shivers the trees,
            reeling even the towering

sequoia. While walking the dog, I weep,
            forced by icy wind

to abandon stoicism, your plane not yet
            airborne.  Once again,       

I strip your sheets, reshelve books you never
            opened, find, on the sill,… ...continue reading

river   city   sky
spectrum  of grey
ungiving surfaces

nothing immediate
available here

suspended
between cities
someone… ...continue reading