Acorn #56, Spring 2026
year’s end—
an orphaned cat licks frost
off a milkless saucer
Güliz Mutlu
Ankara, Turkey
war crimes
the silence
trending
Elmedin Kadric
Helsingborg, Sweden
they say it's spring . . .
the measured buzz
of the IV drip
Michael Dylan Welch
Sammamish, WA
wanderlust
the ivy inches closer
to a neighboring pot
Sharon Martina
Warrenville, IL
lunch break —
the picnic table
chained to a tree
Mary Ann Conley
Marion, IA
spinnakers offshore . . .
the beige canvas beach chairs
all sag
Scott Mason
Somers, NY
peeling potatoes
after the farmers market—
our old bent sheet pan
Davis McCombs
Fayetteville, Arkansas
white-haired now
the younger woman
he left me for
Roberta Beary
Bethesda, Maryland
Issue #55, Fall 2025
clouds in the dishwater New York sky
Alex Drogin
Providence, RI
ribbons of twilight
the silent treatment bleeds
into another day
Glenn G. Coats
Carolina Shores, NC
a snowplow backing into my four-thirty dream
Julie Schwerin
Sun Prairie, WI
strange city
I awaken
as someone else
Ruth Holzer
Potomac Falls, VA
pink negligee
the magnolia's shadow
of fallen petals
Bob Stewart
Mission, KS
field of daisies
I fix the result to
"he loves me"
Martina Matijević
Vidovci, Croatia
single again
lying in bed
diagonally
Pushan Basu
Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
Issue #54, Spring 2025
hurricane lantern
we drop anchor
between planets
Debbie Strange
Winnipeg, Canada
catchment meadow
the burst of song
from a warbler
Joanna Ashwell
Co Durham, United Kingdom
midwinter night—
the last length of floss
too short to use
Tanya McDonald
Happy Valley, OR
dandelion globe
I have one last go
at my kind of world
Elmedin Kadric
Helsingborg, Sweden
…and he said we would last days of autumn
Barbara Fink
Mountain View, California
my son corrects
his teacher’s French
l’hiver revient
Joshua St. Claire
York County, PA
ceasefire march
a new winter coat
and old kufiyah
Marie Derley
Ath, Belgium
Issue #53, Fall 2024
bombardment
children in the shelter
playing war
Mile Lisica
Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina
old schoolroom wall
same slightly crooked map
of a faded world
Michael Scottoline
Bucharest, Romania
pallbearer
his untied
wingtip
John Pappas
Boston, MA
snow angel
more than half my life
behind me
Kristen Lindquist
Camden, Maine
on the subway someone meditating
Daniel Shank Cruz
Jersey City, New Jersey
climate change conference
the waiters clearing tables
while we eat
Benedict Grant
Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada
night swim
I slowly scatter
the stars
Mona Bedi
Delhi, India
Issue #52, Spring 2024
black and white keys
my brown fingers
stretch an octave
Gideon Young
Chapel Hill, NC
brushing my teeth
after the fiddle concert
my mouth shapes the tune
Ruth Yarrow
Ithaca, NY
clear night
the stars all stuffed
into a telescope
Jeffrey Winke
Milwaukee, WI
one or two
solar systems over
cherry petals
Scott Metz
South Beach, OR
cold night
mother dies again
in my dream
Vandana Parashar
Panchkula, India
a glint
along the knife's edge
election day
Kathe L. Palka
Flemington, NJ
first snow
the bartender's shaker
slowing
Keiko Izawa
Yokohama, Japan
Issue #51, Fall 2023
whittling knife
the evening
falls away
Greg Schwartz
Sykesville, MD
one more
dialect of silence...
snowfall
Srini
Rishi Valley, India
morning light
she spades her grief
into the soil
Christa Pandey
Austin, TX, USA
lopsided cantaloupe
me with a soft spot
for summer
Cherie Hunter Day
Menlo Park, CA
monsoon leaking
through the tarpaulin
pani puri
Sankara Jayanth Sudanagunta
Hyderabad, India
summer meadow
the path to school
almost healed
Barbara Snow
Eugene, OR
ebony rose
the almost scent
of darkness
Ron C. Moss
Leslie Vale, Tasmania, Australia
Issue #50, Spring 2023
spring stream
she lifts the sari
just enough
Meera Rehm
UK/ Nepal
early spring
a ponytail of radishes
in her straw hat
Anne Elise Burgevin
Pennsylvania Furnace, PA
dozing by the lake
waves lapping at the edge
of dreams
Michael Ketchek
Rochester, NY
under the poplar
two cows' worth
of shade
Carolyn Hall
San Francisco, CA
moonlight through my window streaming live
Dan Curtis
Victoria, BC, Canada
first autumn rain
the spillway back
to spilling
Bryan Rickert
Belleville, Illinois
unraveling
sounds of the river
winter stars
Lisa Gerlits
Silverton, OR
Issue #49, Fall 2022
starless night
a dozen moons
reflected in the sea
Deborah P Kolodji
Temple City, CA
snowcapped
the truths buried in
my mouth
Agnes Eva Savich
Austin, TX
everybody
has a story
not to tell
John Stevenson
Nassau, NY
midsummer reverie
sound of splashing waves
in my mint soda
Keiko Izawa
Yokohama, Japan
the back and forth
of a willow warbler
summer dusk
John Barlow
Ormskirk, UK
round midnight
Miles
before I sleep
John O'Connor
Chicago, IL
Issue #48, Spring 2022
deathly pale . . .
a lily comes out
from under the earth . . .
Eugeniusz Zacharski
Radom, Poland
migrants . . .
hopscotch
on the stone bridge
Mircea Moldovan
Jibou, Romania
caper flowers
. . . and I thought I was done
with this grief
Polona Oblak
Ljubljana, Slovenia
magnolia buds . . .
birds plumping feathers
against the chill
Ingrid Baluchi
Ohrid, North Macedonia
the ringing
of faraway bells
dusk in a field
Ernest Wit
Warsaw, Poland
lakeside walk
a seagull’s cry sneaks
into my playlist
Tomislav Sjekloca
Cetinje, Montenegro
windless dawn
a marigold wreath
sways in the kelp
J. Zimmerman
Santa Cruz CA
Issue 47, Fall 2021
glass lake
trailing my fingers
through the clouds
Barbara Sabol
Akron OH
filled with sky
the voice of a child
lost in play
Cora Whitmore
Bangor ME
ocean sunset
beach chairs folded
into jumbled stacks
Julie Schwerin
Sun Prairie WI
the Big Dipper
tipped on end
petal fall
Jennifer Burd
Ann Arbor MI
a spider works
the seam in the wall
night heat
David Grayson
Alameda CA
starless night—
we wish instead
upon a streetlight
Michael Dylan Welch
Sammamish WA
space debris . . .
the newborn foal
finds its legs
Ferris Gilli
Marietta GA