TODAY I PLANTED

by Catherine McGuire

Today I planted.

Poked my thumb into thick, unyielding

earth, dropped tiny seeds—

zinnia, sunflower, kale.

Seeds teardrop-size, dry

seeds, brown and dead-looking

seeds too small to count.

I poked and planted; I pulled weeds

that had triumphed on my neglect.

I found I could pull thistle—that monster—

by the base, without harm.

Get the roots. Important.

But plant. Keep planting.

Don’t give up. Ever.

Catherine McGuire is a writer and artist with a deep concern for our planet's future. She has five decades of published poetry, four poetry chapbooks, a full-length poetry book  Elegy for the 21st Century (FutureCycle Press),  a SF novel Lifeline, and book of short stories The Dream Hunt and Other Tales (Founders House Publishing).

PUSH & PULL

by Judith Terzi

Metro Station, Pasadena, CA. Image source: The Old Pasadena Blog

Push to open the gate. Empuje para abrir.
Look both ways before crossing the tracks.
Do not enter while the bells are active.
Search for invisible things: Higg's boson,
a wish inside a Bushmaster. Grief. Kill me
softly with a Venti. Head straight home
in your penny loafers, stiff striped shirt.
Free People jeans, Citizen of Humanity.
Not Your Daughter's Jeans. Oh not your
mother's guns. Search for the invisible.
A secret inside a Glock. Wounds inside
the shells. Despair inside terror. Courage
inside despair. Radiance inside a law.
Grief. Lick the latte. Dunk the Madeleine.
Pull to open the gate. Jale para abrir.


Judith Terzi is a poet living in Southern California where she taught high school French for many years. Her poetry has received nominations for Best of the Net and Web and awards and recognition from journals such as dotdotdash, Mad Hatters', and Newport Review. Poems are forthcoming in American Society: What Poets See (FutureCycle Press), Poetry Project Erotic Poem Anthology (Tupelo Press), and elsewhere. Sharing Tabouli was published by Finishing Line in 2011.