It was a shower and gone
quickly. The sky was
only gray a short time.
It reminded me of a gray
fox that I spotted in the
city when I went to buy
two pizza slices, the
unseen people that […]

I heard him say it
dozens of times,
but the first time I said it
I laughed out loud.
Dad never had
two extra nickels to rub together—
my parents the king and queen of getting by—
and, get by the […]

Speeding between the endless fields of corn and beans
70 . . . 75 . . . “This old junker might make it to 80” . . .
Some girl who knows the meaning of, uh, ‘Hey hit the highway!’
I sang it, shouting it, sho […]

Listening to Buckthorn
“Although Wordsworth is [in the opening of
The Prelude] describing the activity of composing aloud, of
walking and talking, what the poetry reaches into is the activity of l […]

The Engineer
Boredom ricochets off the hard edge
of a freight train
carrying ethanol,
carrying the wanton thoughts of a man
gone too long without intimacy.
A secure living is a railroad job,
so you don’t u […]

“Social distancing during Covid means no hugs.”
—NBC News

It was neither part of a protest
nor a statement to the world.
I simply put my arms around
a tall oak and stood in embrace,
our bodies jux […]

Submissions for the annual Streetlight Magazine Poetry Award are open and I want to encourage participation from everyone, those new to our magazine as well as regular readers. The closing date for this […]

Sneerwise, I’ve seen better
Dearborn, without the metal
I’d go on to abort you like any other paperweight hitchhiking across my belly
and just that fast
Grace Kelly has figured out the new mat […]

This summer, I have performed two activities that strangely seem similar: shredding dozens of family documents and serving as a screener for a poetry manuscript contest.

Many of our older readers […]

*Certain conditions apply.
Statement is not an indicator of future performance,
nor does it constitute any promise, guarantee or warranty.
Cannot be combined with other offers.

Void where […]

She was a day past presence, riding
the jagged breath below the surface
of consciousness, and I was running
to make the next plane to Arkansas.
My footsteps parted the ear-splitting
everyday […]

I mix up the names of common furniture pieces
like cupboards and cabinets, closets and shelves

And bureaus. And Ursas, both major and minor

Armoires. To know only of […]

Hunting Gems

I don’t comprehend the chemistry of how geodes form
but their creation makes enough sense for my layman mind
to teach an abridged version to my daughter:
Some rocks may look dull, b […]

Little Betrayals

I was six
I knew he had a quarter in his pocket
I knew it was mine if when he roared
who is the greatest grandpapa of all
and the silver and Wedgewood china on table shook
and the Irish […]

Fate is read in the routes
of the snails that methodically
spell their own names in the park.

Leaves shrivel
and shiver off of white birch
trees.

Alongside an old church,
pigeons storm a sliver
of […]

The old poet who thinks he is young remembers the young poet who used to be wise.

Twyford James

Though I had my suspicions last fall and tried to hope it along this spring, the venerable h […]

For my sake

At dawn there are no residues left from last night’s shift.
I offer no sympathy to the crawling hours
of a newborn day.
With fog I travel across the city
to buy a large coffee with half-half c […]

Here Is the Paring Knife, Here Is the Metaphor

to cut the damaged parts away. So bruised and all.
Peeling the flesh of the torturer you become of yourself.
Here is the skin off your hand. The skin off your […]

Incandescence

Few will understand.
Light bulbs, for heaven’s sake.
But I was awash the night I found
spares waiting to meet my need
and remembered when need
was swallowed by the dark.
My little stash of l […]

I could have stayed married to David if he
wasn’t so unwaveringly chiseled. If his deceptively supple
face wasn’t so perfectly defined. If Michelangelo could
have given me a dress that was low […]