PA – Foxglove Journal

The Wren on the Sidewalk – Don Krieger

She looked at me, turned,

hopped ahead, turned back,

jumped into the grass.

Then she lunged up,

snatched a dragonfly

right out of the air.

Don is a biomedical researcher living in Pittsburgh, PA. His poetry has appeared online at TuckMagazine.com, Uppagus Magazine, Vox Populi Sphere, and others, in print in Hanging Loose (1972) and Neurology, and in several print anthologies including in both English and Farsi in Persian Sugar in English Tea, Volumes I and III.

March 29, 2020 by foxglovejournal Categories: UncategorizedTags: air, animals, bird, creative, creativity, Don Krieger, dragonfly, elements, grass, hop, jump, look, moment, movement, nature, PA, poem, Poetry, sidewalk, snatch, US, wren, writing 3 Comments

Peach Pit – Kara Goughnour

The thunder was growling

like any defenseless thing

and the birds flew in circles

over our heads. Everything

was tired; the branches lied

vine-like over the rain-slick

street like lost shoelaces

inching back into pairs,

and we bent our boredom

to the back burner in origami

folds. The whole store sat unnoticed

which, to the lot of us, led

to a collective unrest.

I tucked the worn rags into water

and you, with your names

I’ll forget easily when it’s time,

cleared the mold off

of every peach. These days,

in my monotony,

I am a thing capable of rotting,

scared or stoned, a still-stemmed

stone fruit already molding,

before the bird wings catch

in the fence snares, before

the stars yelp back to life,

before anyone can taste it,

before anyone would care.

Kara Goughnour is a writer and documentarian living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are the author of “Mixed Tapes,” forthcoming in the Ghost City Press Summer 2019 Micro-Chap Series. They are the recipient of the 2018 Gerald Stern Poetry Award, and have work published or forthcoming in The Bitchin’ Kitsch, Third Point Press, and over forty others. Follow them on Twitter and Instagram @kara_goughnour or read their collected and exclusive works at karagoughnour.com.

October 27, 2019 by foxglovejournal Categories: PoetryTags: birds, creative, creativity, elements, fruit, Kara Goughnour, life, names, nature, PA, peaches, poem, Poetry, rags, rot, senses, stars, taste, thunder, US, water, wings, writing Leave a comment

Daily Dreaming – Kara Goughnour

I don’t want to give too much away

but the sun doesn’t rise in this one.

Instead, I light a matchstick on your spine

and our slept-over sweat doesn’t burn

and the bathtub quakes with lavender and grime.

These days, we sleep in shifts

and watch for shadows, crawling about

like things that don’t live here, like things

that don’t live anywhere.

I’m hoping that, in every scenario,

you still love me more in the end.

Outside, the hydrangeas are sagging

with rain and inside you are looking me over.

I don’t want to give too much away

but, in this one, the night is both wasted and spent well.

September 24, 2019 by foxglovejournal Categories: PoetryTags: body, burn, creative, creativity, dream, hope, Kara Goughnour, lavender, light, love, nature, night, PA, poem, Poetry, rain, senses, shadows, sleep, spine, sun, US, writing Leave a comment

Power Out, Summer – Mark Danowsky

I’m usually not big on lights

while working, unless reading

Headlights I want on

Fans I want on

Windows I prefer closed, mostly

Doors shut at night

Laundry done, an empty sink

A full fridge, and quiet

Leading up to bedtime

to keep heart and mind from racing

Mark Danowsky is a poet from Philadelphia. His poems have appeared in About Place, Cordite, Gargoyle, Gravel, Right Hand Pointing, Shot Glass Journal, Subprimal, and elsewhere. Mark is Managing Editor for the Schuylkill Valley Journal and Founder of the poetry coaching and editing service VRS CRFT.