January 2025 | poetry
I’ve rehearsed this in my mind
countless times–
Put the broom or cardboard scrap
on far side of carcass
Place scoop– something thin and stiff
yet flexible, at near edge
Draw broom towards scoop–
towards myself
This is where the problem lies–
no matter what tool
I feel the soft roll of death-filled body
limp foot flop, rotation of tail
through glove, through broom and dustpan
into my veins, my whole being
I can’t do this
I fear my wrist might twitch the pan
popcorn creature into air
Once our cat left a field mouse
in the dining room midday
I ran through scenarios for hours
gathered gloves, small paper bag, old broom
but ended up hiding it beneath empty box
until my husband returned from work
to do the deed
Yet when he died
I took his lifeless hand directly into mine,
said goodbye, released
golden halo from finger, stayed
with him as he cooled
Joy Kreves
Joy Kreves is a visual artist/poet with an M.S. in Painting and a B.S. in art education from Illinois State University. She has often incorporated poems into or exhibited them alongside her artworks. Since 2021, she has been a DVP/US1 Poets member and is the current managing editor of the “US1 Worksheets” anthology. Her poems have appeared in several exhibition catalogs and “US1 Worksheets”. She has had poems published in NewVerseNews in 2024. In 2022, she had a poem at the Poetry show at Trenton Social. Kreves has hosted several “Artist Melts” events incorporating art and poetry at Suburban Frontier, her Ewing, NJ, art space.
January 2025 | poetry
it is human nature to want to build something
substantial and wonder why our bridges fall
like fever. upon conversion from spruce to roof,
the eastern hemlock remains square-shouldered
unhungry for sun. a hospital falls in the forest
and everyone can hear it, but you wouldn’t know.
the frame of my first home, a place to dream
walls onto bones; in the backyard: three pine trees
as surrogate mothers searching for their children
searching for their limbs. books of aftermath
on classroom shelves full of featureless figures
drumlined over rockets, ships, blimps, then me,
reluctant survivor stretching fingers across
the gray victims, too young to picture their faces
too safe to see the size of their crowd. learning
eventually every echo goes unanswered
somewhere in the world. the day we move i bury
the woody wedge of a pinecone beside the porch
since i believe everyone’s intent is to be good,
unaware mulch and soil boast different creators
unaware the sun can’t reach the seeds still at home
in their husk, unaware that no amount of protection
will ever grow into a stalwart tree that refuses
to abandon its spire and survive the winter alone.
Amanda Nicole Corbin
Amanda Nicole Corbin is an Ohio-based poet who has had her work published in The London Magazine, Door is a Jar, Pile Press, Gone Lawn, the Notre Dame Review, and more. Her debut full-length collection, addiction is a sweet dark room, (Another New Calligraphy, 2024) focuses largely on her journey and struggles with mental health and addiction. Find her on Threads and Instagram at @ancpoet or www.amandanicolecorbin.com.
January 2025 | nonfiction
CNN: American reality show contestant kills, eats protected bird in New Zealand
Clad in their best, their most expensive, Lululemon, Nike, P.E. Nation, Versace, or Adidas, flexing their abs on national TV, traipsing all over and screwing up the last protected wild places on this planet. A so-called reality show, and it makes a hell of a lot of money. What can they tell you about the amur leopard, the western lowland gorilla, the vaquita, the Sumatran elephant, box turtles, orang utan, the black rhino?
Blond, somewhat unkempt locks curl from under an expensive baseball cap, carefully trimmed three-day beard, blue mirror sunglasses. I HAD to Google the man: Spencer ‘Corry’ Jones, an American white water river guide.
An iconic, large, flightless bird, the weka, is famous for its ‘feisty and curious personality’. It has become virtually extinct over large tracts of the mainland because of changing climatic conditions and rising predator numbers. The predators, a species until recently unknown: the second-hand Kardashians and those who would love to be as famous and as rich. The show is called “Race to Survive” no less.
Spencer Jones said he was hungry.
Rose Mary Boehm
Rose Mary Boehm is a German-born British national living and writing in Lima, Peru, and the author of two novels and eight poetry collections. Her poetry has been published widely in mostly US poetry reviews (online and print). She is a ‘Pushcart’ and ‘Best of Net’ nominee. The most recent poetry collections: Do Oceans Have Underwater Borders? (Kelsay Books July 2022), Whistling in the Dark (Cyberwit July 2022), Saudade (December 2022), and Life Stuff (Kelsay Books November 2023) are available on Amazon. A new MS is brewing. https://www.rose-mary-boehm-poet.com/
