Guidelines



Submission Guidelines: Send 1-3 unpublished poems in the body of an email (NO ATTACHMENTS) to nvneditor[at]gmail.com. No simultaneous submissions. Use "Verse News Submission" as the subject line. Send a brief bio. No payment. Authors retain all rights after 1st-time appearance here. Scroll down the right sidebar for the fine print.

Thursday, February 29, 2024

LEAP DAY 2024

by Sally Zakariya




In the fourth year the calendar
cracks open and out leaps 
an extra day, neither winter nor spring 
but somewhere on the cusp, 
let’s say the cusp of March, 
itself a cusp of sorts 
somewhere between 
lion and lamb.

So say you have one more day   
this year, another day to add
to your store from birth to death 
over a lifetime, no strings attached, 
nothing expected in return. 

Outside a scurry of snowflakes dance
on the early crocus, neither winter
nor spring but somewhere on the cusp.
What will you do with your extra day?


Sally Zakariya’s poetry has appeared in some 100 publications and been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Her publications include All Alive Together, Something Like a Life, Muslim Wife, The Unknowable Mystery of Other People, Personal Astronomy, and When You Escape. She edited and designed a poetry anthology, Joys of the Table, and blogs at www.butdoesitrhyme.com.