#ifnemfrog

back on earth frogspit is dripping
                 down wild aloe spikes  

poem excerpt, kaveh akbar                                   source image

There let its trumpet blow, and quickly dress
My uncertain path with green, that I may speed
Easily onward, thorough flowers and weed

poem excerpt, endymion, john keats                        source image

nemfrog:

I lay, like a beetle irrigating a rose,
my red thoughts in a red shade all I was

poem excerpt, henri cole                                     source image

Crows, the voices of crows
                                            leaving their nests at dawn, circle around

poem excerpt, heri cole                                         image source

And where is its violet mouth
Its ten fingers with which to fix me

poem excerpt, melissa broder                                  source image

heavy clouds on the way
and the lawn steaming like a horse

poem excerpt, billy collins                                     source

Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew.

poem except, jack gilbert                               source

stepping
through a lava tube, we emerge

poem excerpt, arthur sze                                      source image

Silver Lake, Los Angeles. May 21, 2020. Nemfrog photo.

But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it

poem excerpt, billy collins                              source image

 their black and secret centers
lie shattered on the lawn

poem excerpt, jane kenyon                              source image

let men with gold teeth bow to my tits
and the blisters on my feet I become electric

poem excerpt, morgan parker                         source image

I sit in a gold kimono,
                                            feeling the subterranean magma flows,
the sultry air, the hand holding a pen,
                                                                     bending to write,

poem excerpt, henri cole                  source image

If you don’t look back,

the future never happens.

poem except, rita dove

I had a dream
about a crystal blue pool.
I felt stupid when I saw the ocean.

poem exerpt, wendy xu                                   source image

though I step back into the ditch, no whitening cloud dispels this world’s mystery—

poem except, arthur sze                        source image

from the train window, he saw they were on ladders cutting fruit off cacti — 

poem except, arthur sze

Fowzi the fool,  
who beat everyone at dominoes,
insisted he spoke with God as he spoke with goats

poem excerpt, naomi shahib nye                             source image

a black shape wandering the cornfields
devouring delicious little animalsa

poem excerpt, rosa chavez

the entire history
of me is here—viper of memory,
stab of regret, red light of oblivion.

poem excerpt, henri cole                                               source image

Elmohr Iris. Iris tulips daffodils. 1945. Cooley’s Gardens. Silverton, Oregon. Catalog cover detail. Processed.

Internet Archive

the half-compassion and half-horror we feel for the creatures
            we want not to hurt       and prefer not to touch

poem excerpt, craig arnold                             image source

Fly agaric. Poisonous mushroom. Botany for high schools.1910.

Internet Archive

                                                                    I’ve scrubbed
a lover’s blood from the kitchen tile       such cleaning
takes so much time you expect there to be confetti at the end

poem excerpt, kaveh akbar                                image source

It is easily forgotten, year to
year, exactly where the plot is,
though the place is entirely familiar

poem excerpt, michael anania                        source image

we separate
at the lips. we have never kissed behind the school

poem excerpt/nate marshall                        source image

Morning, maybe it is evening, light
is flowing through the room. 

poem excerpt, robert hass                                   

The tulips are too excitable, it is winter here.

poem excerpt, sylvia plath                               source image

Silver Lake, Los Angeles. December 24, 2020. 

Do not come anymore.
I am an animal
very rarely

poem excerpt, anna swir                                       source image

and I will make you see
what spring is all about

poem excerpt, marilyn singer                            source image

Ceramic Bunny. Silver Lake, Los Angeles. December 9, 2020.

                                                                      the dozen zucchini
lined up on the counter like placid troops with the onions, their
minions

poem excerpt, jessica greenbaum                          source image

this man who never showed

me much affection but gave me a knack

for solitude, which has been mostly useful

poem excerpt, henri cole                                  source image

I understood we were to have some experiences many times in our lives
if we were lucky, but we would live them each time differently

poem excerpt, jessica greenbaum                             image source

I want you to tell me anything
Again and again

poem excerpt, jericho brown                                        source image