White-block foursquare,

glare of a sun without shadows,

dried-fly plaster, coarse-limed.

Thin chickens tip at dirt’s sweep

and daylight neon advertises

Coca Cola. Cold. Refreshing. Cheap.

My ride’s over, hot and dusty,

sugar cane, tall as escape’s trusty

ladder. Feet trail in gathered grime

and I remember ’79.

Another hot day in Jerusalem,

sat on the kerb, in a plaza like this,

fizzy Coke in hand, approaching bliss,

shared with the brown-eyed boy from Gaza,

then I saw the shiny lines that traced,

shrapnel’s illuminating shot-grey lace.

Sue Morgan lives in Northern Ireland with her husband and teenage sons. She taught reading and writing to children with learning difficulties and is now taking time to learn to write herself.

Posted on March 5, 2012 in Other, Poems
6 Comments

Today’s poem, Souvenir Lace by Sue Morgan, got me thinking about souvenirs in general. Souvenirs can be good or bad, simple trinkets that we’ve picked up at some roadside tourist shop or scars that we’d love to forget but know will never fade. Why do we hang onto souvenirs? Why do we claim them?

What are your souvenirs? Focus on two. First, the souvenir that comes to mind immediately. Then, the one you stumble upon when you poke around in your closet.

What is the souvenir you’d give away if only you could?

Let us know what you come up with. The usual submission rules apply.

- Kathleen

Posted on March 5, 2012 in Every Day Inspiration
No Comments

between the shell

and seaweed strand

lie ten thousand

grains of sand
 

Marion Clarke has returned to her home town in Northern Ireland after leaving for university in the 1980s. For many years, she studied and worked in Belfast, Lille, Bristol and Leatherhead, Surrey. She returned to Warrenpoint in the year 2000 with her husband, young son and soon-to-be-born daughter. Marion has had non-fiction, short stories and poetry published and now spends her time writing, painting and teaching her kids French.

Posted on March 4, 2012 in Inspirational, Poems
10 Comments

Drapes drawn,
the mirror covered.
The workshop clock
stopped at the hour
of her passing.

He enters
the Time Machine
sets the dial.

Flywheels spin,
drive belts clatter
the chronos disc
sings
scattering light
as it beats against
an ocean
of time.

Retreat.
Back to
the day
back to
the hour
back to
the moment
and helpless
loses her
again
and again.
 

Bill West  wrote poetry as a teenager but stopped. In 2004 he started writing Flash Fiction and has been published widely. Only recently has he revisited poetry.

Posted on March 3, 2012 in Poems, Romance
8 Comments

left behind
in morning
crease in the sheets
 

As a youngster, Rachel Sutcliffe  had a great imagination and loved story and poetry writing. For a while her creative writing took a back seat as she discovered the joys of foreign language learning. However she remained an avid reader despite not writing as much herself. Personal circumstances have led her to really concentrate on her writing again. She finds it a great form of therapy! Rachel is an active member of a writing group and is pleased to have seen several of her poems and short stories published recently in various anthologies and magazines.

Posted on March 2, 2012 in Form, Japanese Short Forms, Poems
8 Comments

A small bird is singing

so soft in my garden.

It pleads with the twilight,

for Spring’s swift return.

The branches are shaking

with tears of Summer’s death

while leaves blush and quiver

at Autumn’s attention.

The bird begs with song

for Autumn to wait,

and Spring to bring back

sweet promised sunlight.

“My eggs did not quicken,

under night’s stab of frost,

so cruel was Summer’s slumber,

neglecting his smile.”

A small bird sings softly

for Spring’s swift return.

The answer is sunset,

and the first flake of snow.
 

Johann Thorsson  is a native of a cold volcanic island in the north-Atlantic. He has published several short stories in his native Iceland, and a single gem on Every Day Fiction. Hopes to one day quit his proper job and just make stuff up for a living.

Posted on March 1, 2012 in Literary, Poems
1 Comment

Welcome to the March 2012 issue of Every Day Poets.

Our first poem this month, Johann Thorsson’s Songs of Spring, mourns the first flake of snow in spite of its spring-like title. But it is fall in the southern hemisphere, so here is a chance to honor the seasons in both places. The rest of the month is more geared toward the late winter/early spring season that the staff of Every Day Poets is now enjoying  from our various homes north of the equator.

This month, we applaud the following poets for their first appearance in our pages: Blair Beauchesne, William Wright Harris, -J, Helen Mazarakis, Liana Mir, Dave Morehouse, Parth Pandya, Chad Parenteau, Larraine Nicholls, and Johann Thorsson. We also welcome the return of the many poets who continue to send quality work our way. Editor Constance Brewer continues to teach us about short Japanese forms of poetry with this month’s Editor’s View on tanka.  Finally, each of this month’s Every Day Inspirations play off the poem published on the same day.

We are now accepting poems about summer. Remember that timing can be the difference between consideration and refusal; we had some March-targeted poems submitted in February, as we were posting the March issue, which we refused because they were too late.  Also, when you send in a submission, please make sure to proofread. We have had instances in which contributors have contacted us to fix mistakes in their poems right after they’ve hit that “send” button. If you discover you’ve submitted a piece with substantial errors, you may request that the piece be withdrawn by using our “Contact Us” form, found here. Once the erroneous poem is withdrawn, you are free to submit a corrected version.

On another note, have you been keeping up with the new Every Day Novels serialization, Lifting up Veronica by K.C. Ball?  If not, no time like right now to see the latest in bite-size reading. Readers cannot live on poetry alone, even though we’d like to think so on occasion.

Happy equinox, everyone.

- Kathleen

P.S. Last minute addition!! The Writers of the Future contest has launched their “Fan Campaign” and have agreed to sponsor EDP for every person who likes their Facebook page. So, if you love the poems that EDP publishes every single day, please consider going to the Writers of the Future Page and clicking “Like”.

Frosty dogwood waiting for spring in Editor Kathleen Mickelson's garden.

Posted on March 1, 2012 in Table of Contents
No Comments

Martin rattled the bones all right.

Shiny silver spoons blurred through his fingers

clattered on his knees all night long

at his daughter’s wedding.

The huge tent-in-a- field. The sweet peas twined

around the support poles. The band of buskers

folksing it up. The ale. The bread. The cheddar cheese.

The reels and jigs. Everyone up. Circling hand-in-hand.

Faster and faster in a joyous round of breathlessness and laughter.

Later when moonlight warmed the double-bed dark

and the green bridesmaids, wildflowers woven in their hair

strayed one by one into the welcoming woods, Martin put away

the spoons. Remembered a night in Wales twenty years ago.

Marilyn Francis’ first collection of poetry, red silk slippers (Circaidy Gregory Press) was published in 2009. Her poems have also appeared, in TheRightEyedDeer literary ezine, the Whittaker Prize anthology, Earlyworks Press anthologies, Bugged, Snakeskin, Ink, Sweat & Tears,  Prole 6, and some other places.

She lives and works near Midsomer Norton in the wild west of England.

Posted on February 29, 2012 in Other, Poems
8 Comments

I stand in dusk upon this shelf,
no longer carried by the world
that used to nurture me.  Though if

you hold me, we begin to waltz,
and laughter echoes through the space
which lies beneath my ancient whorls.

And when we slow, your fingers slip
into this darkness that will cease
when I am gone.  But on the slope of

your shoulder, I entice your ear
towards me, so then I can whisper
you tales that drift beyond our shore.

Matthew Turner  was born in Sheffield on 31st January 1980. He currently works for the ambulance service in London, and he studies at The Open University.

Posted on February 28, 2012 in Other, Poems
3 Comments

“Let us hope.”
And as you drive away
Your hand waves like a bird that,
When its cage is suddenly lifted,
Tries to fly. My hand flutters too,
Even beyond that far point where
You’re still there, but cannot be seen.

Stuart Larner is a chartered clinical psychologist. As Mental Health Expert, he ran an advice column for XL for Men Magazine. He has published international articles and poems in magazines and newspapers including Nursing Times, as well as in scientific journals. He has been involved in scriptwriting and directing productions at the Edinburgh Fringe. Stuart published Scarborough Modern Sea Songs, and an ebook in verse: Jack Daw and the Cat. Stuart is currently working on a non-fiction sports psychology book and a novel about cricket.

Posted on February 27, 2012 in Inspirational, Poems
3 Comments

Every Day Poets is a magazine that specializes in bringing you fine, short poetry. We publish a new poem of up to 60 lines/500 words or fewer that can be read during your lunch hour, on transit, or even over breakfast.

Feel free to browse the site, check out our archives, or even sign up to receive a new poem in your inbox... every day!