Before the Fall

      by Kelly Reed

I want the fall

I want the golds, the browns, the burgundies,

And the grays

I want the cloudy skies, the crisp air, and unpredictable wind

I want the leaves to crunch under my feet

The temperamental rain and dramatic waves

I want to feel myself pulling my jacket closer

The sudden shifts in temperature

I want the light in the distance getting closer

I want the warmth of a door opening

And the gleam of the autumn sun

I want the heavy meals that fill the empty spaces inside

And steam on the window with smells in the air

I want the grapes and the pears and the apples

The dried corn stalks, and the hay in open spaces

The pumpkins and squash and pie crusts

I want the short days and fading light

The early frost and the threat of snow

Pumpkins seeds and popcorn

It’s August now

And summer is nearly over

The leaves are still green, but looking a little tired and worn

I want the fall

Soon it will come.

Bio:  Kelly Reed has been writing ever since she was five years old, when she learned how. Screenplays, poems, and essays –nearly every day usually means a new idea. After learning that someone else might actually be interested in reading this collection, she is finally allowing her work to be seen by others, and is now trying her hand at publishing.

I Think I Will Bring a Cup of Coffee Along

        by Helen Padway

flavored with two rounded teaspoons

of sugar and a dollop of cream

just the way you like it.  Pour

it into the soil over you,

you who loved  a good cup

in the morning , relished

the flavor and bouquet filling

the inner man more than roses. 

As the rich liquid soaks

and disappears

I will think of past morning papers

the cartoons we shared 

and how  they brewed our laughter.

Bio: Helen Padway lives and laughs in Glendale, WI and  is theater trained and worked in radio and television both writing and performing until she was waylaid by love and children. Picked up her pen again as a grandmother.  Now she is young enough to know that poets can change the world.

In The Water

  by  Alexandra Seidel

we were brought together

by a wild tide

you and I

tossed one way and

another

by mountainous waves

we found each other

in the water

and clung together

when everything

around us

was crazy with movement

you stopped

for me

and I for you

yet every storm will eventually

end

and so around us

the ocean calmed

the waves were quiet

and I found

that the world was no longer

a-tumble

and that I could

let go of

you

without drowning

Bio: Alexandra Seidel has recently dyed her hair a rather bright shade of red. Like many of her stories and poems, it was just a whim, but it still looks cool. Her poems and tales (those which outgrew their whim state) have appeared in issues of decomP Magazine, Apparatus Magazine, Foundling Review and others. Non mainstream stuff dug and clawed and chewed its way into such places as Scheherazade’s Bequest, Sybil’s Garage, Star*Line and even stranger locales.

You can read her blog here: http://tigerinthematchstickbox.blogspot.com/