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Black and white cat asleepFelicia Nimue Ackerman: Reconnection Selection

"With a little creativity, any Saturday morning can
be a chance to get outside, lace up those hiking boots
 and reconnect with the natural world."
 – Rhode Island Monthly

Hiking boots? They're not for me!
People vary, can't you see?
I'll stay home, be sure of that –
Reconnecting with my cat.

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L.A. Mereoie: Pastoral  Relief

When the brook broke its banks and then burst through his door  
The rector, plus livestock, just made the first floor,
But remarked, “Thank the Lord, as it’s goats that I keep
I  am spared the division of them from the sheep.”

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Claire Booker: Spiritual Portfolio

I wish to consolidate
Into one interest-free debt
All my mortal and my
Venal sins. How do I apply?

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Tony Peyser: How To Stop Tantrums By Tennis Players

Bad behavior? This new rule
Will permanently dispatch –
If you break a racket, you have
To use it for the rest of the match.

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Terese Coe: Retro Tech
 
If only that wall of ginormous boulders
had protected our wall of manila folders
or kept us safe from a few of the shooters,
we might have a clue to the damned computers.

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Tonia Kalouria: Digital Distress

Greetings from Post-ID-Hacking-Hell –
The finances and I are not doing well!
Cyberspherical crooks collared such an amount 
It brings PTSD when I view my account.

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Chris O’ Carroll: Roman Aroma Rhyme
 
The Pope’s nose gave a disapproving twitch in
A Vatican-adjacent sushi kitchen.
“Neither nostril of this Roman bishop,”
He said, “is one a chef should waft raw fish up.”

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Tom Vaughan: Lip Service

I want it to be me whom you make love to –
it’s only fair that you should want the same.
But who’s to know all our two minds get up to
as long as lips stay faithful to a name?

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Tracy Davidson: Not Marriage Material 

He says his Mom likes home-cooked meals, 
and I should tidy up a bit. 
I say his Mom can stay at home. 
This mess is mine. We're not a fit.

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Margaret Owen Ruckert: Some Companion 

Borage is porridge for pests.
I’ve learnt this to my dread.
Forget its role – companion plant.
Your strawberries curl up dead!

Blue flower of borage and buds