Salisbury Bridge
george l stein is a photographer living in northern new jersey and focused on art, street, decay, portraiture, and surreal genres. George has been published in a number of literary magazines such as the Toho Journal, Midwestern Gothic, After Hours, Wrongdoing Magazine, and Fatal Flaw, among others, and had work shown at several galleries, including Praxis (Minneapolis) this month. Online, insta @steincapitalmgmt and at www.georgelstein.com.
& just like that aggrieved
or not thrust flush
against metal
the all of abandoned farm machinery
& all but barn of a house
nettled/ in shambles
of razor grass/ rooted/ my feet
stumbling close enough
to peace for breath/ waist high
to the ground/ the all of green caterpillar
& algae towers/ peaked up
in cicadas’ buzzing
make for rest
supine back against dock rust/ lake lap
& grass hungering for legs
leaving me for just a moment lying
back in black brilliants’ flame/ bursting
swallowing whole
in my dreaming sleep the all of everything
Mara Adamitz Scrupe’s publications include four full collections. BEAST (2014 Stevens Manuscript Publication Prize, National Federation of State Poetry Societies, U.S), in the bare bones house of was (2019 Brighthorse Books Prize in Poetry), Eat The Marrow (2019 erbacce-press Poetry Book Prize UK; shortlisted 2020 Rubery Book Award UK), and REAP a flora (2023 Shipwreckt Books). She has selections in generational anthologies by Southword/ Munster Literature, Stony Thursday, and 64 Best Poets/ Black Mountain Press, and poems in key UK and US journals including The London Magazine, Mslexia, Magma, Abridged, and The Poetry Business/ Smith Doorstop. Twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize in Poetry, she has won or been shortlisted for significant literary awards including Arts University Bournemouth International Poetry Prize, Magma Pamphlet Publication Award, Gregory O’Donohugh International Poetry Prize, Pablo Neruda Poetry Prize and National Poetry Society UK. She serves concurrently as Lance Williams Resident Artist in the Arts & Sciences, University of Kansas, and Dean and Professor Emerita, School of Art, University of the Arts Philadelphia.
Reading poetry online takes me
down the rabbit hole of the next poem
and the next, and oh, I like this poet
and how did they even come up
with gold leaf or orange sweat.
Outside, Spring is in the world.
My husband’s down the hall
drawing machinery on his computer.
He says he’s not an artist,
but those clear, concise lines
are strong enough to swing on.
Lay down your mouse, my beloved.
Look! The pine tree across the way
has released a cloud of golden pollen.
Patricia L. Scruggs is the author of one poetry collection, Forget the Moon. Born in Colorado, she spent ten formative years in Alberta, Canada before taking root in Southern California. Her work has appeared in Burningword, McQueen’s Quinterly, Inlandia, ONTHEBUS, Spillway, Rattle, Rip Rap, Cultural Weekly, Crab Creek Review, as well as the anthologies l3 Los Angeles Poets, So Luminous the Wildflowers and Beyond the Lyric Moment. A recent Pushcart Prize nominee, Patricia is a retired art teacher who earned her MFA at the California State University, Fullerton. She and her husband of over 60 years are parents of two and grandparents of three.
