“Playing Through Strength” by Angela H. Dale

Playing Through Strength

for virtually forever now my neighbors and I have played
bridge

kitchen
table
no-score

bridge

slam
response
forcing

bridge
played virtually, and now I have my neighbors for forever

the computer keeps score
deal

count
your
winners

deal

we
they
vulnerable

deal
the computer keeps score

pass, pass, pass, I say
notrump

unbalanced
dummy
exposed

notrump

finesse
the
knave

notrump
I say, pass, pass, pass

faces in little boxes we
laugh

double
showing
support

laugh

aces
and
spaces

laugh
faces in little boxes, we

Angela H. Dale
4/02/2020

Angela H. Dale is a poet and picture book author who lives in Ellicott City, Maryland. Her writing has appeared in The Baltimore Sun, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, The Skinny Poetry Journal, Her Mind and in many other notable journals. Her picture book debut is slated for release in Fall 2022.

“Hopeful” by Suzanne Cottrell

Hopeful

Will the COVID-19 curve be flattened?
hopeful
social
distancing
mandated
hopeful
community
spread
controlled
hopeful
The COVID-19 curve will be flattened.

Suzanne Cottrell
3/28/2020

Suzanne Cottrell, an outdoor enthusiast and retired teacher lives with her husband and three rescued dogs in rural Piedmont North Carolina. She enjoys reading, writing, knitting, hiking, Pilates, Tai Chi, and yoga. Her poetry has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including The Best Emerging Poets Series, Avocet, Plum Tree Tavern, The Skinny Poetry Journal, and Haiku Journal. She was the recipient of the 2017 Rebecca Lard Poetry Award, Poetry Quarterly, Prolific Press. Learn more about this writer at Suzanne’s Words.

“White Girl” by Jane Edna Mohler

This is the first poem TSPJ has published while in the crosshairs of the COVID-19 pandemic. Arguably, its power is in its lines of artful honesty. The novel Coronavirus will pass. However, the pathogen of racial and cultural ignorance that keeps us from appreciating the wonderful value of all people will continue to rage. Indeed, it will continue to decimate the world if we do not attempt to mitigate it.

In the context of race, this is true white to black and sometimes black to white and, sadly, all too often, every color to every “otherized” assembly of souls. All of us need to cultivate a caring knowledge of what is beautiful about each of us–wherever humanity stands. To that end, I celebrate this courageous writer who offers, in the spirit of love, this genuine, warm, cultural self-portrait.

Truth Thomas
TSPJ Editor-in-Chief
_________________

White Girl

You do not know
me
tailgate
bologna
sandwiches
me
knobby
knee
swings
me
Know you do not

Jane Edna Mohler
3/7/2020

Jane Edna Mohler is a poet and counselor in the Philly suburbs. She is the author of Broken Umbrellas (Kelsay Books, 2019). Her work has appeared in Schuykill Valley Journal, U.S. 1 Worksheets, River Heron Review, and The Boston Globe. Mohler won the 2016 Main Street Voices Poetry Competition and is a Pushcart Prize nominee. She is an avid newcomer to Skinny Poetry.

The Prophetic Poetry of Barbara Turney Wieland – A 2020 Reboot of “2017”

Love this shot. Love the work of this gifted poet–
Barbara Turney Wieland.

Reposting this poem of hers–“2017” that seems
prophetic now, given

all that has transpired in America since Donald
Trump entered White House doors. – t

~~~

2017

starts as a shit storm
warning
muted
orange
warning
voted
fear-monger
rage
warning
as a shit storm starts

2/9/2017

Barbara Turney Wieland takes time for green tea steeped in a teapot, enjoys a bit of 100% dark chocolate and putting pen or paint to paper to see what comes out. Ever in wonder, she is an Aussie living in Switzerland, longing for sun, atm.

~~~

To order your copy of The Skinny Poetry Anthology
where more of Wieland’s

sterling work appears, simply go to Cherry Castle Publishing’s
online bookstore today.

 

 

“How to Write a Skinny” by Angela H. Dale

How to Write a Skinny

I
start with your end
lines
nine
inner
skin
lines
replete
with
repeat
lines
end with your start

II
bruisable fruit
distill
spill
your
veins
distill
fog
rivers
rain
distill
bruisable fruit

III
now step off the
cliff
sheer
no-fear
word
cliff
catching
your
breath
cliff
step off the now

Angela H. Dale
3/4/2020

***

Angela H. Dale is a poet and picture book author who lives in Ellicott City, Maryland. Her writing has appeared in The Baltimore Sun, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, The Skinny Poetry Journal, Her Mind and in many other notable journals. Her picture book debut is slated for release in Fall 2022. 

 

“State Head Case” by Chad Parenteau

State Head Case

In union, me
put
here
with
you
put
together
unglued
I
put
me in union.

America
by
God
not
used
by
anyone
else
except
by
America.

America, no more limits,
have
won’t
cater
to
have
nots
for
I
have
no more limits, America.

Up in space
force
less
stamps,
welfare
force
poor
send
in
force
up in space.

Privates sacred,
your
healthcare
and
also
your
schools
hold
onto
your
sacred privates.

Into space, each child
throwing
their
hat
in
throwing
in
with
us
throwing
each child, into space.

Wall and wall
and
more
miles
taller
and
even
more
powerful
and
wall and wall.

Criminal aliens!
we
make
wall
make
tall
we
colonize
Mars,
we
criminal aliens!

At last standing, our
Prayer
Punished.
Guns,
Glory,
Prayer,
Punished.
Send
Thought
prayer
at our last standing!

Chad Parenteau
2/18/2020

Chad Parenteau is the author of Patron Emeritus, released in 2013 by FootHills Publishing. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Tell-Tale Inklings, Queen Mob’s Tea House, What Rough Beast, The Skinny Poetry Journal, Ibbetson Street, Molecule and Résonance. He serves as Associate Editor of the online journal Oddball Magazine. He has hosted the long-running Stone Soup Poetry series in Boston since 2005. His second full-length collection, The Collapsed Bookshelf, is forthcoming.