Thank you so much to Editors Valentina Terrinoni and Yasmin Rahman of Scrittura Magazine for publishing "Radio Waves" and "Idol."

scritturamagazine.tumblr.com

Thank you to Editor Glory Sasikala for publishing "Spin" in the March issue of GloMag.

Thank you Duane Vorhees of Duane's Poetree for publishing "Subterranean."




Underground City by Derinkuyu

Subterranean

The subterranean

environs down below,

deep but not dank,

underneath all within these depths

where darkness once crept, 

keeps underground stores for food,

the only peril now would be flood. 

Down from up man switched his gaze,

traded lanterns for the light of day,

to not feel that heat, 

to gain respite from the noise of feet.

Dead souls do not linger here,

this is a place with much life

impersonating majestic night,

where man found grand room for such grand rooms

as danger up above them loomed.

Solemn not the norm here in this glad place

And voices boom, no gallery of tombs

or cells for those who don't move. 

This subterranean space,

well below the darkling skies and stars,

by edicts of kings and will of man dug.

Thank you to Editor Kathleen for publishing "Music of the 
Medusa" in Tropica Laced Magazine.

A big thank you to the editors of Poetry Quarterly for publishing my poem "9/11" in their Winter, 2017 Issue.  

Published in Academy of Heart and Mind
One of my flash fiction pieces submitted for the Love Is In the Air contest.  I received an honorable mention.

Isaac's Robot

Third grader Isaac was different; smaller, quieter.  He smiled a lot, but he never spoke.  He listened carefully to his teacher, Mrs. Kendrick, and did his best, but he learned slowly and he read even more slowly. Choosing books from the library was a challenge and book reports in front of the class were all but impossible.

He watched other kids play at recess, but he never joined, even when asked. No one made fun of Isaac. They would just smile at him and he would always smile back.

On one particular library visit, a picture on the front of a book caught his eye. He chose this book, although he could not really read it. It was a book about how to build a robot. Isaac wanted to build a friend. He worked on his robot after school every day and on the weekends. He made some progress, but not much. It takes a long time for only one person to build a robot, especially when they can’t read the instructions. But he never gave up and he kept at it. When it was time for the next round of book reports, Isaac raised his hand to let Mrs. Kendrick know he was ready.  She got tears in her eyes as he stood up with the book, pointed to the cover, and smiled.  The class smiled back and ,wow, did they clap!

In February, Isaac was not at school one day, nor the next day, nor the day after that. That night, the teacher called Isaac's mother. Isaac was in the hospital and the prognosis was not good. Mrs. Kendrick shared the news with the kids. They didn't say a word. However, at recess, she noticed the kids in a tight huddle. 

Saturday morning, the doorbell rang at Isaac’s house. His mother was at the hospital, but his dad was home. After talking to the kids, Isaac’s dad took them to the garage. They were there all day that Saturday and again on Sunday, and the next weekend and the next. After six weeks, they had built Isaac a robot.

Mrs. Kendrick took the robot to the hospital to show it to Isaac. He was very weak, but he managed to smile. His mother asked her to thank the kids.

The next morning Isaac's mother came to the class with the robot. Isaac had wanted to share his new friend with the class because they were the best kids in the whole world. That's the last thing he told his mom.

The robot sits in Isaac's seat at his desk. It reminds the kids that they once had a classmate, a little boy who never spoke but always smiled. Just like Isaac’s robot.

Published in Creative Talents Unleashed

The Ticking of Winter’s Clock

My mother died in Winter.

My mother far away.

Spring was to rise in only a few weeks.

It was the fourth of March.

Brown grass and leafless trees

were in endless array outside.

I could hear

the ticking of the clock

as I waited

for the phone to ring.

I have my father,

I told myself.

My father died in Winter.

My father far away.

It was the seventh of March

and again, the green was still to come.

And again,

I could hear 

the ticking of the clock

as I waited

for the phone to ring.

Then, I was alone.

© Copyright, Linda Imbler, All Rights Reserved

Understood

(A Nonet)

White paper marked with black ink symbols

reflecting tales that need telling

some shapes standing straight and tall

or turned by curves and bends

from these lines and loops

we come to live

many lives

not just

one.

© Copyright, Linda Imbler, All Rights Reserved

Thank you so much to Editor Amit Parmessur for publishing my poem "Guitar" in this month's issue of The Pangolin Review.

https://thepangolinreview.wixsite.com/mypoetrysite/current-issue-1

Thank you so much to Editor Dagmara K. for publishing my poem "Say Cheese" today in Spillwords.


http://spillwords.com/say-cheese/

Say Cheese

written by: Linda Imbler

“Say Cheese!” my best friend told me,
in that quirky way she would whisper,
right before the photographer snapped the eighth grade class picture.
Before the prints could be returned, her family abruptly moved out-of-state.

I hope she has had the most hair-raising opportunities,
such grand hair-raising experiences to match those we survived
during most of that school year.

But more than that,
I wish for her to have had many beautiful, joyful ‘say cheese' moments
throughout all her seasons and in the many lands
to which she wished to travel;
on a beach covered by sand up to her waist as her skin turned pink,
wearing snow shoes and thick parkas while walk gliding across an ice glacier
as her nose dripped,
atop a camel before Giza
feeling as if she would be bowlegged for eternity
after the dismount,
wedding day cake cutting,
post birth photos as a new mom,
family reunions,
graduations, both hers and those of family and friends,

her eighth grade heart still intact.

Thank you to Editor John Page for including my short story "Isaac's Robot" in The Academy of Heart and Mind today.  It made an Honorable Mention in the Love Is In the Air Writing Contest.

Thank you to Editor Glory Sasikala for including my poem "The Bird" is this special February anthology book.

Shark’s Teeth

The shark’s jaws do not hold his teeth,

they are merely set gently within the gums.

Likewise, some's love for another

is not firmly rooted within their hearts,

but only slightly held.

As teeth fall easily from sharks' mouths

when they bite,

so do some people fall easily out of love,

causing the same pain as from a bite.

Thank you to Editor Tasha Roberts for publishing "Soulreader" in In Between Hangovers on March 4, 2018.

http://inbetweenhangovers.wordpress.com

Soulreader

He paid with paper money to get a quick salvage,

to retrieve what he had let go,

to recover what he had lost.

He placed all his bets upon that spread,

but one bent card wrecks the deck

and stacked the pile akilter.

His future thrown off course

through a single paper’s weakness.

Thank you so much to Hayley and Jessica for publishing my work in Sheila-Na-Gig.

https://sheilanagigblog.com

Thank you to the editors at Prolific Press for publishing my poem "9/11" in the Winter Issue of Poetry Quarterly.

https://prolificpress.com