Stella walked to the window of her hotel room and threw it open. She had asked for a ground-floor room with a view over the beautiful gardens, filled with lush tropical vegetation and showy flowers.She had arrived in Jaipur, in northern India, earlier in the day by train from Delhi.Continue Reading

In speculo Sue invenit: VISUM MONSTRUOSUM… corpus deforme foedumque… (facie hibrida / indigesto protoplasmatium auctu / partibus in perversis locis temere positis / dentibus in genis sinuque haerentibus)…atque TUBER IN TERGO FIXUM FACIEI ELISABETHAE ULULATU GELATO. Vomens viridem liquorem inquit: Ego sum… sum… MONSTROELISASUE Incipt se parare et vestem bellamContinue Reading

Blessed are the small creatures of the landthe wise rat, bringing gifts of wisdom and tenacitythe playful mouse, creative rabbitspiders connecting vibrations with patiencesnakes of spiritual intuitionprotect them from those who misunderstand. Blessed are the least of underwater creatureskrill that feed majestic whalesmosquito-devouring minnowsthe adaptable octopus concealing its truthsalmon determinedContinue Reading

The best friend a person has … is one who has just died.-Colonel Aureliano BuendíaThe Dandies used unflavored sparkling water to wash shaving cream from the bay window / They used a rhinestone encrusted seltzer siphon from a forgotten vaudeville act that closed long before prohibition & whistled show tunesContinue Reading

When I was a child, I collected catsnot in the crazy cat lady fashionbut just enough to drive my mombonkers. Nights when tomcats yowled after darkI interrupted their loud argumentsand choosing the smallest cat I sawpicked him up. Walking home from town with friendsa cat was stuck in a drainageContinue Reading

Although you have diedI feel your touch in everyrain drop as ifyour tearson my living shouldersare leavesmeant to disappear or blow away.Your tearsstrike my silken umbrellalike angry fists because we are separated–I in this garden and you in the other. Lynette G. Esposito, MA Rutgers, has been published in PoetryContinue Reading

I dream of the Sequoiassingingwhen the breezedances amongst maestrolimbs— carving invisible piano noteson their bark.The song is oldI cannot understand the ancient lyric. My wild pen shards words on this pagelike fragmentscrushed by the thought of giantswho do not speak my languageand I cannot express theirs. Lynette G. Esposito, MAContinue Reading

Sad embrace of tears and sweat ruining my makeupreaching my mouth Worked so hard to apply with hands shaking andheart racing butwe said goodbye Sad embrace of soft fur in my hands when theneedle entered, Ijust bought this new shade yesterday His breathing labored, myheart cried, myears bled Sad embraceContinue Reading

I type into the homunculus of steel;Sifted and grafted from the earth.It glints silver and black,Like the stars and darkness it once came from–Blinking in and out of existence.The stand has been like that for ages.I make a note to replace it soon.It’s the color of the sky outside theContinue Reading