Citrus Solstice
by Elizabeth Kuelbs
photograph by author

Come taste
this bright plate
glistening with bee sweet
juice distilled from sun fire, with
tangerine, grapefruit, kumquat jewels
I peeled and sliced for you. Come wade
into soft blue air. Bathe your lungs. No flames
devour the mountains now, only blood oranges
crimson in your palm. Come. Strip off your mask. Tart
your lips with star grown lemons, sugar your mouth with light.

 

 

RUSTY
by Linda Eve Diamond 

Please forgive me.
I’m a bit rusty
socially.

It’s been a while
since I spoke out
loud, in person.

I cough up must
and dust, broken
thoughts and rust.

Tonight, I tried to pry
my voice box open
with a screwdriver.

Now I’m too sleepy
for words. I guess
that wasn’t the key.

 

 

–

Elizabeth Kuelbs is striving for personal bests in miles hiked and coconut cream cakes baked in 2022. She’s a Pushcart Prize nominee, and the author of the chapbook Little Victory (Finishing Line Press, 2021).

 

Linda Eve Diamond’s poetry has been honored with Artists Embassy International’s Grand Prize, REEL poetry’s Film & Video Prompt Award, and National Federation of State Poetry Societies’ Founders Award. Her website is http://LindaEveDiamond.com.