The Abstractaphy Initiative

By Theresa Cancro
Wilmington, Delaware, USA

wild violets
brushing her cheek
the shadow of a bruise

Selected poem, 7th Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest, 2018

By: Steve Van Allen 
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, Earth

I’ve lost so much: people, pets, keys, books. In the short time since settlers arrived, streams and rivers in the Alleghanies have lost too.

I am daily polluted by chemicals and plastics in my food and water. Streams are damaged by global warming, fertilizers, dammed rivers, and air pollution  effects us all. 

80% of all hellbender salamanders are gone, and like me they want to hide all day, take care of their young, and not bother anyone.

eventide
lonely swim
searching for peace

By Debbie Strange
Canada

Honourable Mention, 2024 Sonic Boom Annual Vispo Contest

Artist’s Statement:
A paper collage embellished with frayed burlap and fabric symbolizing how women learned to “make do” during the Depression Era. The grains of wheat and ration ticket represent food insecurity and the lack of the most basic items after countless farmers lost their land. The staple stitching works to bring these two themes together.

By: Debbie Strange
Canada

First Published: Human/Kind Journal, November 2020

By: Debbie Strange
Canada

First Published: Frameless Sky, Issue 16, June 2022

By: Fatma Zohra Habis
Algiers, Algeria

childhood
between war and sun
dreams

By: Fatma Zohra Habis
Algiers, Algeria

ongoing war
a stranger digs the grave
for a stranger

By Diana Webb
Leatherhead, Surrey, UK

It towers above the park this tree . An ancient haven with countless generations of birds to its name.  It teems with wildlife down through its roots.

Painters have painted it, poets penned poems on it, children danced and sang round the girth of its trunk. 

Now there are plans for this space with a landmark. High rise tower blocks. Multi-story car park. Big hotel. Lots and lots and lots of concrete which will always resound with the multi-wave echo of the crash of a tree. 

layered picnic rug
with shade of myriad summers
we shake out the tears

By Bryan D. Cook
Orleans, Ontario, Canada

It’s a taboo topic in polite society, but the ads don’t hold their punches when it comes to extolling the virtues of triple-ply, soft and scented toilet paper as tested by a family of teddy bears! My own testing shows that I have to fold many pieces to gain satisfaction; using many rolls and thus increasing the company’s profits.

That is until I discover its high tensile-strength brand, 100 percent recycled with a promise to plant one tree per carton. No plastic wrapping and a fair price.

I’m so happy with this product that I write the company, congratulating on its commitment to ecological sustainability. A thank-you email from the quality control division asks for my home address so that a token of appreciation may be sent. This wasn’t my motive but, nonetheless, it’s a nice gesture.

Friends speculate that a tractor trailer may off-load a year’s supply on my driveway for all the neighborhood to share, or I may be subscribed to a lifetime of toilet paper.

Finally, a letter arrives enclosing a $5 coupon off my next purchase. Heavens, labour and postage cost more than that! And this largess is coming from a corporate giant whose website boasts at being “unapologetically human.” I’m left wondering if miserliness is one of its human traits.

Marley’s ghost
converts Ebenezer Scrooge
an unlikely tale

Marley’s ghost
       rattling the chains
       of corporate greed
       climate change
converts Ebenezer Scrooge
       threadbare apartment
       his inheritance
       under the mattress
an unlikely tale
       big pharma
       caring for addicts
       “Bah, humbug!”

Marley’s Ghost and Ebenezer Scrooge are characters from Charles Dickens’
A Christmas Carol, first published in 1843.