The Zingara Project

Category: Zingara Poetry Review: Poetry Picks

  • A Visit to the Palm Springs Palace by Judy Fitzpatrick,

    Everyone has lost weight here
    at the palace in Palm Springs.
    Where orchids, roses, lilies flourish
    but people do not.

    A helper hefts her client from bed
    to wheelchair, to table.
    First a thorough clean up.
    Then they eat, but not much.

    The helper’s husband is in Sri Lanka.
    He hopes to join his wife
    who is also hopeful.
    “God never gives you anything
    you can’t handle,” she says.
    I see my sister-in-law drop
    a green grape into her lap, crippled hands
    that can’t close completely
    and think God’s plan isn’t working.

    A loving son pays the rent.
    He is cheerful.
    Sleeps late.
    Happy to weigh 30# less.

    Mornings I sip coffee.
    Pick at glazed buns bought for me.
    Ask the helper to put me on her prayer list.
    My sister-in-law chews and swallows THC and CBD.
    It helps her tolerate the pain.

    This morning my sister-in-law stabs
    a piece of egg, the yolk burnt orange.
    “Got it!” She exclaims.
    I lean in to her, fill the space inside her shirt collar.
    No longer a sister-in-law.
    Instead a sister after more than sixty years.

    A mallard nests at the palace.
    Eggs laid poolside among the petunias.
    Upon my return home I receive a photo of
    nine ducklings paddling alongside their mother.
    The next day I’m told they’re gone.
    “She was squawking at 7 a.m.” the helper says.

    Blame it on the hawks who soar overhead.
    It’s as good an explanation as any.
    We have photos to prove what we saw,
    how we suddenly felt hopeful.
    Then we didn’t.

    I spent part of April in Palm Springs with my sister-in-law at a house her son had rented. It was “a palace” but my sister-in-law has had a stroke and it was painful to see her unable to totally enjoy this gorgeous place. My nephew left a copy of Rosemary Wahtola Trommer’s book ALL THE HONEY by my bed and I was reading her poems. You were sending poetry prompts. I was journal writing a poem I couldn’t share with anyone.

    Here is what came of the experience: A Visit to the Palm Springs Palace. My process was to make observations and put them into a form I could manage mentally. I was feeling pretty down. It helped to concentrate on getting the poem right.

  • The Up and The Down by Christina M. Rau

    The Whispers of Work prompt jumped out at me because one of my favorite poems is Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays” and one of my favorite poetry collections, to which I frequently return, is Jennifer Fitzgerald’s The Art of Work, and it so happens that my grandfather was an elevator operator. When I saw elevator operator on the list of extinct professions, I realized this was a poem for me.

    I did some research about elevators in the 1940s–which is a change for me since I consider myself a lazy poet and rarely look things up. I was fascinated. I created stanzas following grammar and geography, and then I went back and added elevator-language to create authenticity. 

    The Up and The Down

    He ran the elevator.
    It was a job. It came with
    a salary and a seat for when
    standing got tough. 

    In the Garment District,
    he gave vertical rides to folks
    interested in fabrics.

    Out in Iowa
    they used one of the smallest elevators
    Tillotson built, mostly for storage of grain.
    Down in Texas
    they used the largest (of course).
    These were orphan plans, one-offs
    to suit bushel capacity and silo nee\ds.

    Back in New York
    after being pushed towards the Tenderloin,
    he found family among the textile crowd.

    His arms gained strength over the years
    all that manual opening and closing
    of doors, the protective inner and ornate
    iron outer. He controlled the speed,
    controlled direction, announced each
    floor upon arrival.

    The strike froze the city
    but only for a moment
    when everyone realized the marvel—
    the shaft, the car, the rails, 
    the cables, the pulleys—
    the convenience had become.

    Up and down all day, only
    sometimes taking a seat, is
    how he spent the days with 
    only one exception—when 
    the men in suits arrived,
    suggested he go get lunch,
    and he did
    because the salary and the seat
    and the chance to walk home
    before sundown were the dream
    becoming reality every working day.

    Christina M. Rau, The Yoga Poet, leads Meditate, Move, & Create workshops for various organizations worldwide. Her collections include How We Make Amends and the Elgin Award-winning Liberating The Astronauts. She moderates the Women’s Poetry Listserv and has served as Poet in Residence for Oceanside Library (NY) since 2020.During her downtime, she watches the Game Show Network.  
    http://www.christinamrau.com

  • After Frank Frame by Kitty Jospé,

    I love “corresponding” with poets, borrowing lines, or trying erasure technique on other  poems, as if I were in the same room, having a silent conversation.  Just the idea of another human being looking over my shoulder as if to ask, “so, where are you going to go with that line?” changes the writing from scribbled thoughts to something to which I add extra polish.  

    The April 3 prompt was to read three different poems from different sites.  It seemed there was an option to start with a line…then remove it and find an original title, OR, title the poem after XYZ, using the poet’s name.

    I tried both.  I “borrowed” different lines from Frank Frame (his poem here: 

    Come In, Houston, or Everything I Know I Learned from the Guitar Solo in Tori Amos’ “Doughnut Song” (Live in Frankfurt, Germany )

    Two-and-a-half months later, I am submitting a new attempt, using his last two lines as epigram and keeping his first line.  

    I’m using a word game technique, where words made out of the letters that spell transformation are in italics.

    I liked the idea of penning 14 lines about a 14 letter word, having two lines in a row filled with 14 words made from transformation, scattering another 14 (one of which is an invented verb). 

    After Frank Frame
    Remember, you and I began as stardust. Whatever
    we turn into, let us live up to that brilliance.

    Lately, I’ve been into transformation, 
    sifting the words formed from its 14 letters:
    formation, format, form, fit (the) fan —
    ration, rim, ram, rant of rat, tit for tat;
    what norm means in this nation,
    what storm roars, how fit is fat,
    how a trot ran to rot.  Your turn 
    to find words to describe the rifts
    in this country, the senseless
    hatred, violence, distrust when
    it could be so easily otherwise,
    each one of us an instrument
    of peace.  I want  transformate, ion 
    by ion, to roll in l – v-e, full circle. 

    Kitty Jospé, retired French Teacher, art docent, moderates weekly poetry appreciation sessions since 2008 after receiving her MFA.  Known for her teaching enthusiasm, joyful presentations, demonstrating the uplifting power of art and word, her work delights the ear with the sound of sense.  Her poems appear in numerous journals, books.  

  • Snorkeling Off Keawakapu Beach by Carolyn Martin

    Snorkeling Off Keawakapu Beach by Carolyn Martin

    Your April 2 Protection prompt inspired this poem based on one of my favorite vacation spots and activities: snorkeling with turtles on Maui. 

    Over the years, I’ve come to recognize where these lovely creatures hang out and watch with awe as they rise for air or swim from beach to beach. The last time I was there, I witnessed turtle-rescue volunteers lug a big critter out of the surf and cut away fishing line that had entangled her. What a dedication!

    Images such as the reef, boats, fish lines, the slashed shell, as well as parasites, shivers of sharks, and divers create the specific world the narrator and turtle share––and which I have witnessed. 

    The turn in the second stanza adds a current-events theme. “Headline news” motivates the narrator to plan to emigrate from earth above to the sea below. Here mutual protection will be celebrated with local fish: angels, tangs, butterflies. 

    I chose to use shorter lines to lend fluidity to the poem, and the lineation breaks make, I hope, make for easy reading. Finally, the ending rhymes––harmonize, butterflies, rise––provide the sense of an upbeat resolution for the narrator and her companion.

    Snorkeling Off Keawakapu Beach

    where I don’t have to speak to anyone 
    except the turtle I hang out with 
    on the third reef to the south. 
    Ours, a fluid camaraderie: 
    she ear-witnesses my splashing kicks
    and bemoans my headline news.
    I commiserate about boats, fish lines, 
    fear, and grief and ask about the slash
    on her shell. “A hard year,” she replies 
    in turtle-speak and lets me pat her fin. 

    “As above, so below,” we almost agree.
    But, from what I know of betrayal and loss,
    lies and regret, earthlings are drowning
    in themselves and I am done with them. 

    I’ll find a shelf on her reef so I can listen
    for fishermen and scrub parasites 
    off her back. She’ll steer me away
    from shivers of sharks and divers with spears.
    And, if we plan it right, we’ll harmonize 
    with choirs of angels, tangs, and butterflies 
    singing down the sun, singing up its rise.

    Carolyn Martin is a recovering work addict who’s adopted the Spanish proverb, “It is beautiful to do nothing and rest afterwards” as her daily mantra. She is blissfully retired—and resting–– in Clackamas, Oregon. Her poems have appeared in more than 200 publications around the world. For more: www.carolynmartinpoet.com.

  • Spring Dreams by Michelle Holland

    Journal Mining Prompt

    I mined my journal,  chock full of my relationship with nature, in nature. I wanted to distill the quality and the relationship lyrically, with a song – a sonnet – lyric and inviting, to capture an ongoing leitmotif of the recurring experience, in dream and by streams, of feeling a part of the natural world. I’d like to be a stream, a rock in a stream, the ongoing and the static of existence.

    After gleaning phrases from my journal and responding to the photo, the sonnet began to form. I have since worked with rhythm and meter to capture more of a classic sonnet, without a set a rhyme scheme.

    Spring Dreams

    I am the dawn child of clear mountain streams
    one with the smooth sheen of rocks and pebbles, 
    rings of waves eddy around curved boulders, 
    a kaleidoscopic light in snow fed

    shallow flowing water, no color but 
    what is borrowed from the sky. New green leaves 
    create a mottled  shade, sanctuary 
    for rainbow trout. I will not drown, spread  out, 

    span the width from dirt bank to cool elbow 
    of sand for my bare toes on a hot day.
    Can I be both, river and child, my heart
    alive under growing clouds, threat of rain?

    I hear the Rio Santa Barbara call,
    years flow past, water cold on my bare calves.

    Michelle Holland lives in Chimayó, New Mexico. Her poetry publications include “Event Horizon,” The Sound a Raven Makes, New Mexico Book Award for Poetry, Tres Chicas Press, and Chaos Theory, Sin Fronteras Press. Her books Circe at the Laundromat is forthcoming from Casa Urraca Press. Michelle is treasurer of New Mexico Literary Arts, and poet-in-residence at the Santa Fe Girls School.

  • List of Submission Deadlines

    This is a suggested timeline just to give the project some structure and motivate those of you who work best with a deadline.

    Poems for April 1-6 prompts are due August 31, 2025:

    Poems for April 7-12 prompt are due September 30, 2025:

    Poems for April 13-18 prompts are due October 31, 2025:

    Poems for April 19-24 prompts are due November 30, 2025:

    Poems for April 25-30 prompts are due December 33, 2025:

    Full Submission Guidelines

    2026 Editorial Calendar

    PromptDue DatePub Date Range
    April 1: Journal MiningAug. 31Jan. 1-11
    April 2: ProtectionAug. 31Jan. 12-23
    April 3: BeginningsAug. 31Jan. 24-Feb 4
    April 4: Whispers of WorkAug. 31Feb. 5-16
    April 5: Absences UnfoldedAug. 31Feb. 17-28
    April 6: TransformationAug. 31Mar. 1-11
    April 7: HumorSept. 30Mar. 12-23
    April 8: UtteranceSept. 30Mar. 24-Apr. 4
    April 9: ContradictionsSept. 30Apr. 4-16
    April 10: Game OnSept. 30Apr. 17-28
    April 11: Collect, Remix, RepeatSept. 30Apr. 29-May 10
    April 12: Pro-prose-alSept. 30May 11-22
    April 13: What You Leave BehindOct. 31May 23-Jun 3
    April 14: The Thin VeilOct. 31Jun 4-15
    April 15: EyesoreOct. 31Jun 16-27
    April 16: ApocryphalOct. 31Jun 28-July 9
    April 17: 17 SyllablesOct. 31July 10-21
    April 18: ElementalOct. 31July 22-July 31
    April 19: Chance ItNov. 31Aug. 1-11
    April 20: Temp-oralityNov. 31Aug. 12-23
    April 21: Focus PromptNov. 31Aug. 24-Sept. 4
    April 22: Intangible InheritanceNov. 31Sept. 5-16
    April 23: By Any Other NameNov. 31Sept. 17-28
    April 24: Hands OnNov. 31Sept. 29-Oct. 10
    April 25: In TuneNov. 31Oct. 11-22
    April 26: Not the Kind You FlipDec. 31Oct. 23-31
    April 27: Top of the MorningDec. 31Nov. 1-11
    April 28: Child’s PlayDec. 31Nov. 11-22
    April 29: Endings that Shape UsDec. 31Nov. 23-Dec. 3
    April 30: Course and MethodDec. 31Dec. 3-14
    Revision PromptsDec. 31Dec. 15-31

  • Accepting Poems!

    The Zingara Poetry Project celebration of prompts continues. Please send poems for the following prompts by September 30, 2025:

    While I have several nice poems to represent prompts posted during tose first week of April, I am still accepting submissions for the following categories:

    I’m asking poets to send 1-2 previously unpublished poems inspired by these prompts in the body of an email to ZingaraPoet(at)gmail.com with the NAME OF THE PROMPT included in the subject line. (Replace the (at) with @)

    Please also include a few sentences about your writing process (how you got from prompt to final draft) in your email, including any of the revision prompts that helped you along the way (if you used one). I want to know about why you made the choices you made. If even one line, image, or theme from your original draft appears in the final version, it qualifies for this challenge.

    Feel free to include an image to accompany your poem.

    Poems may be overtly related to any of the prompts, or have only a thread of connection. If you wrote a poem in response to a prompt and threw out all but one line during revision, that counts. Surprising is preferred to the predictable.

    Include a brief professional biography of 50 words or fewer, also in the body of your email.

    Simultaneous submissions are fine, just please let me know immediately if submitted work is accepted elsewhere.

    Revision Prompts

    Be Kind, Rewind

    Stanza Is Another Name for Room

    Find Your Rhythm

    Submission Guidelines

    2026 Editorial Calendar with Due Dates and Publication Ranges

    PromptDue DatePub Date Range
    April 1: Journal MiningAug. 31Jan. 1-11
    April 2: ProtectionAug. 31Jan. 12-23
    April 3: BeginningsAug. 31Jan. 24-Feb 4
    April 4: Whispers of WorkAug. 31Feb. 5-16
    April 5: Absences UnfoldedAug. 31Feb. 17-28
    April 6: TransformationAug. 31Mar. 1-11
    April 7: HumorSept. 30Mar. 12-23
    April 8: UtteranceSept. 30Mar. 24-Apr. 4
    April 9: ContradictionsSept. 30Apr. 4-16
    April 10: Game OnSept. 30Apr. 17-28
    April 11: Collect, Remix, RepeatSept. 30Apr. 29-May 10
    April 12: Pro-prose-alSept. 30May 11-22
    April 13: What You Leave BehindOct. 31May 23-Jun 3
    April 14: The Thin VeilOct. 31Jun 4-15
    April 15: EyesoreOct. 31Jun 16-27
    April 16: ApocryphalOct. 31Jun 28-July 9
    April 17: 17 SyllablesOct. 31July 10-21
    April 18: ElementalOct. 31July 22-July 31
    April 19: Chance ItNov. 31Aug. 1-11­
    April 20: Temp-oralityNov. 31Aug. 12-23
    April 21: Focus PromptNov. 31Aug. 24-Sept. 4
    April 22: Intangible InheritanceNov. 31Sept. 5-16
    April 23: By Any Other NameNov. 31Sept. 17-28
    April 24: Hands OnNov. 31Sept. 29-Oct. 10
    April 25: In TuneNov. 31Oct. 11-22
    April 26: Not the Kind You FlipDec. 31Oct. 23-31
    April 27: Top of the MorningDec. 31Nov. 1-11
    April 28: Child’s PlayDec. 31Nov. 11-22
    April 29: Endings that Shape UsDec. 31Nov. 23-Dec. 3
    April 30: Course and MethodDec. 31Dec. 3-14
    Revision PromptsDec. 31Dec. 15-31

  • Submission Deadline Approaching

    Submission Deadline Approaching

    The deadline for submitting poems written in response to prompts 1-6 posted during this year’s Poem-a-Day challenge is Sunday, August 31.

    PROMPT 1: Journal Splunking – Skim entries from old journals and diaries from a year or more ago jotting down interesting words, lines, phrases, sentences or images as you do so. The goal is to compile a page (or more) of fragments that still resonate emotionally but resist nostalgia and thwart typical associations or your own predictable writing patterns.

    PROMPT 2: Protection – What are you protecting yourself from? What are you protecting your loved ones from? Make a short list of items, people, parts of self, or conditions you feel you need to protect or to be protected from. Next, select one or two items from your list, perhaps related, to write about. Describe why protection is needed an how to protect persons, places, items, or condition you listed.

    PROMPT 3: Beginnings – There are several websites who post poems by well-regarded literary poets on a daily basis, including Poets.Org, Poetry Foundation, and Verse Daily. For this prompt, read poems posted for today on one or all three of these websites. Select a first line of your choice to begin a poem of your own. Once your poem draft is more or less complete, remove the first line and give your poem a new and unique title. Alternatively, if you decide to keep the first line, just credit the poem and poet from which the line is borrowed using an epigraph. Something like “after Emily Dickinson.”

    PROMPT 4: Whispers of Work – Write a poem about a profession which does not exist anymore or which is phasing out. If you like, you can aim for an ode, a lament, a diatribe, a docu-poem, narrative poem, or found poem with your chosen profession as the central image, setting, or source. Examples of extinct professions: ice cutter, elevator operator, milkman, lamplighter, switchboard operator; Examples of professions phasing away: farmer, travel agent, mason, tailor, literary translator: Professions at serious risk: writer, teacher, librarian, journalist.

    PROMPT 5: Absence Unfolding – Freewrite about absence, absenteeism, or absent things. Start with real, ordinary absences, both abstract and concrete, then progressively write about larger absences, each growing in size and scope, even to the point of hyperbole, until you find an absence that feels larger than all other absences, larger than the world, larger than the universe. Make one of them the subject of your poem.

    Prompt 6: Transformation – Make a list things in life that you find ugly, shameful, or repulsive–things like foot odor, rudeness, cockroaches, road kill, belching in public, etc. Choose one or more items from your list to include in a poem. For an extra challenge, see if you can transform something usually deemed ugly into something desirable, beautiful, and worthy of admiration.

    GUIDELINES

    Please send 1-2 poems inspired by any prompt posted during National Poetry Month April, 2025 in the body of an email to ZingaraPoet(at)gmail.com.

    Include NAME OF THE PROMPT in the subject line of your email.

    Include a few sentences about your writing process (how you got from prompt to final draft) in your email. It’s not necessary to explain what your poem is about, rather I am interested in why you made the choices that you made. For instance, why did you chose couplets (or other stanza length)? How did you discover the imagery or metaphors used in your poem? How many revisions did you make? Not these exact questions, but questions like these can serve as your guide.

    For a great example of a poet writing about their process, take a look at the most recent guest blog post at Marsh Hawk Press in which Ellen Bass explicates some of her work. You do not have to be anywhere as involved or detailed as this example, but it does exemplify the kind of approach I am looking for.

    Poems may be overtly related to any of the prompts, or have only a thread of connection. If you wrote a poem in response to a prompt and threw out all but one line during revision, that counts. Surprising is preferred to the predictable.

    Be sure to also mention if you happened to use any of the revision prompts posted during May and June in the process.

    Include a brief professional biography of 50 words or fewer, also in the body of your email.

    Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let ZPR know immediately if submitted work is accepted elsewhere.

  • Call for Submissions and Submission Deadlines

    Submissions for the 2025 Poetry Prompt-a-Day challenge have been trickling in nicely. Please keep sending!!

    For the sake of structure, a bit of motivation, and to keep everyone engaged, here are submissions deadlines:

    • Submit poems responding to prompts 1-6 by August 31, 2025
    • Submit poems responding to prompts 7-12 by September 30, 2025
    • Submit poems responding to prompts 13-18 by October 31, 2025
    • Submit poems responding to prompts 19-24 by November 30, 2025
    • Submit poems responding to prompts 25-30 by December 31, 2025

    Submit poems to me at zingarapoet(at)gmail.com and REMEMBER Include the NAME OF THE PROMPT in the subject line of your email. Several emails have not. Paste your poem submission(s) into THE BODY OF YOUR EMAIL.

    Also remember to Include a few sentences about your writing process (how you got from prompt to final draft) in your email. It’s not necessary to explain what your poem is about, rather I am interested in why you made the choices that you made. For instance, why did you chose couplets (or other stanza length)? How did you discover the imagery or metaphors used in your poem? How many revisions did you make? Not these exact questions, but questions like these can serve as your guide.

    For a great example of a poet writing about their process, take a look at the most recent guest blog post at Marsh Hawk Press in which Ellen Bass explicates some of her work. You do not have to be anywhere as involved or detailed as this example, but it does exemplify the kind of approach I am looking for.

    Poems may be overtly related to any of the prompts, or have only a thread of connection. If you wrote a poem in response to a prompt and threw out all but one line during revision, that counts. Surprising is preferred to the predictable.

    Be sure to also mention if you happened to use any of the revision prompts posted during May or June in the process.

    Please include a brief professional biography of 50 words or fewer, also in the body of your email.

    Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let ZPR know immediately if submitted work is accepted elsewhere.

    All poetry prompts from the 2025 challenge can be found under that tab 2025 POETRY PROMPTS or by clicking here: 2025 Poem-a-Day Challenge

    The plan is to begin posting poems, along with their explanations of process, in early 2026.

    Feel free to email or comment with questions. I look forward to reading your work!

  • Call for Submissions

    The Zingara Project posted a poetry prompt every day in April for National Poetry Month and now seeks submissions of poems written in response to those prompts for Zingara Poetry Review.

    Please send 1-2 poems inspired by any prompt posted during National Poetry Month April, 2025 in the body of an email to ZingaraPoet(at)gmail.com.

    Include NAME OF THE PROMPT in the subject line of your email.

    Include a few sentences about your writing process (how you got from prompt to final draft) in your email. It’s not necessary to explain what your poem is about, rather I am interested in why you made the choices that you made. For instance, why did you chose couplets (or other stanza length)? How did you discover the imagery or metaphors used in your poem? How many revisions did you make? Not these exact questions, but questions like these can serve as your guide.

    For a great example of a poet writing about their process, take a look at the most recent guest blog post at Marsh Hawk Press in which Ellen Bass explicates some of her work. You do not have to be anywhere as involved or detailed as this example, but it does exemplify the kind of approach I am looking for.

    Poems may be overtly related to any of the prompts, or have only a thread of connection. If you wrote a poem in response to a prompt and threw out all but one line during revision, that counts. Surprising is preferred to the predictable.

    Be sure to also mention if you happened to use any of the revision prompts posted during May and June in the process.

    Include a brief professional biography of 50 words or fewer, also in the body of your email.

    Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let ZPR know immediately if submitted work is accepted elsewhere.

    If accepted work is later published elsewhere, please acknowledge that the piece first appeared in Zingara Poetry Review.

    There are no fees to submit.

    Zingara Poetry Review retains first digital rights, though rights revert back to the author upon publication.

  • Poem a Day Challenge in April

    Poem a Day Challenge in April

    The Zingara Project /Zingara Poetry Review is celebrating the end of its hiatus with a poetry prompt every day in April for National Poetry Month.

    Writers are invited to write in response to as many or as few prompts as they like over the course of the month.

    Beginning June 1, Zingara Poetry Review will open for submissions for poems inspired by one of the poetry prompts offered in April.

    Submissions may be overtly related to a prompt, or have only a thread of connection. If you wrote a poem in response to a prompt and threw out all but one line during revision, that counts.

    So come back each day in April for a new poetry prompt, spend some time in May revising your best drafts, and send 1-2 poems our way beginning in June.

    Full submission guidelines and instructions will be posted on June 1.

  • Let it go on and on and on now baby by Kenneth Pobo                

    supremesHolland-Dozier-Holland

    At fourteen I loved a boy who
    kept talking about The Supremes.
    He loved other singing groups too,
    but said that even in his dreams
    they’d sing “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”
    or “Love Is Here And Now You’re Gone.”
    Back then, we disagreed.  I’d pass
    out (almost) hearing Mama Cass.

    Our phone calls grew shorter.  We met
    other friends to play with.  I still
    miss him—“I Hear A Symphony”
    blasts from my car.  I can’t forget
    our secret touches, the first thrill
    of lying body to body.

    Kenneth Pobo (he/him) is the author of twenty-one chapbooks and nine full-length collections.  Recent books include Bend of Quiet (Blue Light Press), Loplop in a Red City (Circling Rivers), Lilac And Sawdust (Meadowlark Press), and Lavender Fire, Lavender Rose (BrickHouse Books). Opening is forthcoming from Rectos Y Versos Editions.

  • Seringo by Charles Weld

    https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Savannah_Sparrow/id

    For my dad an opal wasn’t a stone, but an Osprey
    Packing A Lunch. “Opal, 2 o’clock,” is something
    he might have announced, binoculars raised. TV,
    in the everyday slang of his birding culture,
    wasn’t television, but short for turkey vulture.
    Mo do was a mourning dove—ro do, a pigeon.
    On today’s date, in the year he was my age,
    he saw a Robin, Crow, Snow Bunting, Starling,
    Canvasback, Goldeneye. I turn page after page
    of lists in notebooks he penciled sightings in.
    Sometimes I read Thoreau the same way. His day
    on today’s date. Chronology’s scaffold falls away.
    A Savannah Sparrow sings, and I hear seringo—
    his word for the bird’s song, still carrying its cargo.

    Charles Weld’s poetry has been collected in two chapbooks (Country I Would Settle In, Pudding House, 2004; and Who Cooks For You? Kattywompus Press, 2012) and has been published in many small magazines. A mental health counselor, he lives in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York.

  • Nineteen Blooms by Nancy K. Jentsch

    For Alexandria, Amerie, Tess, Jose, Miranda, Maite, Makenna, Xavier, Eliana, Layla, Elihana, Alithia, Jackie, Annabelle, Jailah, Jayce, Uziyah, Nevaeh, and Rojelio 

    Next to the pasture stands
    a handful of blue-eyed grass
    my son mowed around.
    I counted nineteen blooms
    and stopped.

    Stars of fragile azure twirl
    carefree in the wind
    like we wish the children
    were doing now—hair
    catching the birds’ trills, toes
    hugged by loving soil, clothes
    trimmed with fourth-grade giggles.

    The petal cups close
    at dusk—far too soon.

    Nancy K. Jentsch’s poetry has appeared recently in The Pine Cone Review, Scissortail Quarterly, and Verse-Virtual. Her chapbook, Authorized Visitors, was published in 2017 (Cherry Grove Collections) and Between the Rows, her first poetry collection, is forthcoming from Shanti Arts. More information is available on her website: https://jentsch8.wixsite.com/my-site.

  • Blue by Anne Whitehouse

    Dusty, worn blue,
    sun-faded house.
    The ghost of the sea
    breathes over it at night,
    leaving a taste of salt.

    When I hung up the clothes
    I had brought with me,
    I saw they all
    were shades of blue.

    This is the color
    I come back to,
    the very hue
    of my soul.

    Anne Whitehouse’s first appearance in Zingara Poet was in 2014. “Blue” is her seventh poem to be published in its pages. Her poetry collections include Blessings and Curses (Poetic Matrix Press)and The Refrain, Meteor Shower, and Outside from the Inside, all published by Dos Madres Press. Ethel Zine and Micro Press have published two chapbooks, Surrealist Muse (about Leonora Carrington) and Escaping Lee Miller. Frida is forthcoming. www.annewhitehouse.com