BARRIERS WORTH BREAKING

by Tammy Smith

Supersonic prototype jet breaks sound barrier on US test flight: Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 hit Mach 1.1 over Mojave desert, bringing company closer to planned supersonic airliner. —The Guardian, January 29, 2025

Over the Mojave Desert —a sleek 
white object             breaking
the speed of sound —BOOM!
seems less grounding
in the middle of other exhilarating events
when I need less to suggest more
doesn’t have to mean faster 
measures represent progress.
 
If only the high-pitched hum
reverberating tens of thousands of feet 
above a crowd of captivating onlookers 
seared their sense of sovereignty. 
 
The return of supersonic travel
reminds me to pause. Focus
on the fullness of my breath. 
Dig my heels deep
into the             center 
of my purple yoga mat.  
Gently lower my body down
to rest in a child's pose.
 

Tammy Smith is a social worker and a single mother from New Jersey. Her writing has been published in Grand Little Things, Eunoia Review, Poem Alone, and Verse-Virtual. 

MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN

by Judith Terzi

Not the Grand Canyon
California oak  
sycamore
Not the city park
the swings  
the dandelion
Not the baseball  
the G-O-A-L
Not the community garden
the harbor  
anchor of vessel
Not the daisy  
the buttercup
the Mojave
Not the poet
the potter
Not the artist
the artist
Not the walls
of books
allure of fireflies
walls of museums
Not the grasshopper
on a tea rose
a tea rose
Not Beethoven
under summer stars
And not the Venezuelan
who conducts him
Not the steel of Disney Hall
Not the wind of steel
the cut of space
Not the waterfall
the wildflower
the thickness of skin.


An educator and poet living in Southern California, Judith Terzi's poems have appeared in journals and anthologies including Caesura, Myrrh, Mothwing, Smoke: Erotic Poems (Tupelo), Raintown Review, Times They Were A-Changing: Women Remember the 60s & 70s (She Writes), Unsplendid, and Wide Awake: The Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond (Beyond Baroque). Her most recent chapbook, If You Spot Your Brother Floating By, is a collection of memoir poems from Kattywompus Press.