Today’s choice
Previous poems
Tony D’Arpino
The Bee and the Lemon Tree
like a lover
the bee visits the tree
every day
on the window ledge
the little tree
is sky goddess
the breeze speaks
to the bee-wasp
love circles in the air
the hider
in the lemon leaves
a thought
hums a tune
scent dances
over the kitchen
Tony D’Arpino is an American poet based in Bristol. He is the author of four poetry collections and three pamphlets. His most recent collection is Sky Tree Sky (Alien Buddha Press, 2024), a sequence of poems based on the journals of the Scottish botanist David Douglas. His poems can be found in the Evergreen Review, the Winter Anthology, London Grip, Blackbox Manifold, and Elsewhere Literary Review.
Sue Norton
Today I tipped the packet of coffee
into the cafetiere instead of the tin.
Caught myself in time, didn’t pour water in.
Steph Morris
Who’s idea was it? I think his, as I’d started
wearing everything from Oxfam. Among my finds
collarless shirts.
Kathy Pimlott
Going down to do lights and curtains to fool any burglars Twilight: one after another security lights click on illuminating pathways, steps, empty front lawns, triggered by my benign progress, then, disappointed, click off. The sky is a layer cake...
Sharon Black
My thoughts are skittish,
peck at whatever they find.
I flick each whitewash flake
into the bin. Shadows on the walls
Vanessa Napolitano
Floors are unvacuumed. Spices remain un-alphabetised.
I bless the spaces between the furniture to keep everyone safe. Seven.
Ben Verinder
Nostalgia as Yogi Bear
Ruminates through you for something tasty,
prizes of the Jellystone mind.
Jane Spray
I’m just an ordinary dryad
not like fancy Eurydice with her sun god father
keep things simple I say I don’t have her dilemmas
Paul Stephenson
The poem of the mask disguises meaning.
The poem of the diet lost seven words.
The poem of the snowman melted.
The poem of the invisible man.
Alex Josephy
Let us now praise hi-vis men
who gather together
round a pothole, filling the gap
with their sticky black remedy.