Marimba by Chris Butler

Even after the final shot
shatters the sound barrier,
and the officers
in tactical body armor
with semi-automatic
handheld war machines
have swept and cleared
every classroom,
they never hear silence,
as the cell phones
with no
sons or daughters
left to answer
ring until the battery's
are all dead.



Chris Butler is an illiterate poet and an anorexic starving artist from the new world's New England. The 10th and final volume in his "Poems of Pain" collection, Beatitudes, is scheduled for publication in 2023. He also has published a book of poems co-written with Dr. Randall K. Rogers, entitled Dead Beats. He is the co-editor of The Beatnik Cowboy.

Sunny Day after Rain by Russell Rowland

The sun unfortunately waited till the rain
was finished so there was no rainbow to look for

but all in all we were content
with clouds breaking ranks and raindrops shining
on blades of grass like bright students

Glad we ran with newspapers over our heads
as the ground thirsted and the heavens complied

as if nature maintains such balance that everything
comes round all right at end of day

Drooping flowers straightened their shoulders
and looked gratefully to the sky

Farmers nodded in satisfaction while the widow
came indoors with her watering can
and the itsy-bitsy spider went up the spout again



Seven-time Pushcart Prize nominee Russell Rowland writes from New Hampshire’s Lakes Region, where he has judged high-school Poetry Out Loud competitions. His work appears in Except for Love: New England Poets Inspired by Donald Hall (Encircle Publications), and Covid Spring, Vol. 2 (Hobblebush Books). His latest poetry book, Magnificat, is available from Encircle Publications.