Craig Kirchner

RIGHT

Liam will be back,
not because a judge ordered it,
but because it is right
that he be reunited with
all that he was taken from,
and right will win this war,
ultimately right will win,
and he will be home, happy.

I dreamt about Hell,
amazing since I don’t believe
in Heaven or Hell.
There were special wings,
named after the greats,
designated as to deviancy
murderers, wife beaters,
child molesters and ICE.

In the dream Putin dies,
massive heart attack.
Russians filled the streets of Moscow,
crowds in every major city
celebrated, rejoiced –
it seemed right.
The flag at the White House
was at half-staff.

Vlad was immediately directed
to the Hitler wing.
He asked the commandant
if any of his friends
would be coming here.
No, there are special cots for them
in the Epstein wing.
You will be better off here
and you can believe it.


Craig's YouTube reading of "Right"


Craig confesses: "To do anything to traumatize a five-year-old is not right, it’s not Christian, and anyone that thinks its American has something fundamentally wrong with them. The terrorists responsible, all of them, will find a special place reserved in hell."

CRAIG KIRCHNER loves the aesthetics of writing, has a book of poetry, Roomful of Navels, and has been nominated three times for a Pushcart. He has been published in Chiron Review, Main Street Rag, and dozens of others. He houses 500 books in his office and about 400 poems on a laptop; these words help keep him straight. Craig has an interview up at Spillword and can be found on Bluesky.

F.I. Goldhaber

STAIN
A Fibonacci poem

You
can
wash blood
from your skin,
walls, and floors. Launder
it from most clothing. But rugs are
problematic. So they removed all the carpeting.


F.I.'s YouTube reading of "Stain"


F.I. confesses nothing.

F.I. GOLDHABER's words capture people, places, and politics with a photographer's eye and a poet's soul. As a reporter, editor, and business writer, they produced news stories, feature articles, editorial columns, and reviews for newspapers, corporations, governments, and non-profits in five states. Now paper, plastic, electronic, and audio magazines, books, newspapers, calendars, broadsides, and street signs display their poetry, fiction, and essays. More than 250 of their poems appear in almost 100 publications including What Color is Your Privilege?, their political poetry collection published by Left Fork press. http://www.goldhaber.net/

State of The Five-Two

There were no submissions for a few weeks, so I paused the Poem of the Week for March, resuming March 30 to usher in April, National Poetry Month, when the site gets more attention.

As always, I'm open to poems about notorious and little-known wrongdoing, true or fictional, any style or form. Thanks for your consideration.

Caleb Merritt

ALLOW ME

Let me introduce you to Allergens. Let me open the door to invisible vibrancy. Was my name only that? I don’t care for it, that much, after all. It was, I suppose, useful. But did it mean anything? I don’t know. I only visibly support the American people. Their doughnuts. Their donuts. Their Sundays. Their Washington Monuments. A pyramid with a floating eye. The humor of something that Nate Piekos might write. I was delighted, after all, with that short drive, with the community-against-the-war, with the things we bring as parental composites of ourselves. Let me get the door for you.


Caleb's YouTube reading of "Allow Me"


Caleb confesses: "Broadly, I imagine I was curious in a meandering-about way on what privilege makes of allowing, allowances, and what we attempt to change. I wonder in what ways I unconsciously and unfortunately support the American people. And, as the poem notes, 'But did it mean anything? I don’t know.'"

CALEB MERRITT an artist living and working in the Treasure Valley.