21Feb 2026 Margaret Coombs

Storm on the Lake

featured in the poetry forum
While the ferry rocks in a wild night storm and passengers reach for a cup to get sick in, my mother’s among them, with my sister and brother, and my... Read More
editors note:

A moment of bliss until something’s amiss. – mh clay

6Jan 2025 Margaret Coombs

Seamless Progression

featured in the poetry forum
mining accident Vincent gives his clothes away to help his flock he suffers with them starves alongside as evangelist he serves others for God’s sake the coal mine breaks him... Read More
editors note:

All those bumps look smooth from a distance. – mh clay

27Dec 2023 Margaret Coombs

The New Year Listens for Hope

featured in the poetry forum
The snow reflects the blue the twilight sky is losing. No breathing creatures reply to my invitation to dine on safflower seeds, or feast on the lard and cornmeal concoction... Read More
editors note:

Looking for the light of longing, answers abound our world around. – mh clay

23Feb 2023 Margaret Coombs

Women in a Waiting Room, 1998

featured in the poetry forum
I envision tiny brooms to sweep away my stress. Try to forget the hollow needle that sucked tissue from my breast. The surgeon called us here, ten women seated in... Read More
editors note:

Relief with remorse, there are none deserving either way. – mh clay

23Apr 2022 Margaret Coombs

A Morning in Mexico

featured in the poetry forum
I walk in the shadow of a colonial cathedral. Children in plaid and navy uniforms hurry to school. Their mothers in cardigans and flip flops snap their gum and ignore... Read More
editors note:

Even in foreign lands, a familiar pang is no stranger. – mh clay

28Feb 2021 Margaret Coombs

Departures

featured in the poetry forum
The Orioles darted to our willow tree, flitting from limb to limb until they deemed it safe to visit our feeder, a glass of purple jelly nestled beneath the foliage.... Read More
editors note:

The last to leave is the memory. – mh clay

1Jan 2021 Margaret Coombs

The End, the Beginning

featured in the poetry forum
On the cusp of a planetary turning, I seek an oracle. Surely a bush will burn away the mystery that covers the next year, carve paths for me to follow.... Read More
editors note:

As we leave the dumpster fire that was 2020 behind, what manner of phoenix will rise from those ashes in the year ahead? We’re trying to find the words… – mh clay

7Aug 2020 Margaret Coombs

One-Eye, Two-Eyes, and Three-Eyes

featured in the poetry forum
Based on the Grimm story. I am the lonely spirit who whooshes among rocky crags in a frigid wind. The pulsing galaxy sends ancient harmonies and I listen. The capacious... Read More
editors note:

Yes! Bring your appetite. (We welcome Peggy to our crazy congress of Contributing Poets with this submission. Read more of her madness on her new page – check it out.) – mh clay

4Oct 2019 Margaret Coombs

Gift of the Autumn Forest

featured in the poetry forum
a cub-sized lump slumps against dark asphalt magenta slit in blue-black fur— a goner six crows make a hexagonal shape around him obsidian feathers like priestly garb at this fresh... Read More
editors note:

This murder brings no conviction except that greed is good. – mh clay

10Sep 2017 Margaret Coombs

Party Sex

featured in the poetry forum
My roommate Mark spends the weekend on a broken flute, pipes its one note to political friends. Do they know the Revolutionary Trotskyite League voted to prohibit oral sex? Through... Read More
editors note:

When it’s time to go independent… Yes. That! – mh clay