Treaty 1

By Debbie StrangeCanada Shortlisted Vispo, 2023 Sonic Boom Annual Vispo Contest Artist’s Statement:A word-weaving of culled Wikipedia details regarding Treaty 1 (in my home province of Manitoba) affixed to stained watercolour paper, referencing the boil-water advisories on many First Nations in Canada.

Vrindāvan

By Monica KakkarIndia and United States of America wind without colorhues widows of Vrindāvan—forsaken in droves Further reading: https://www.policycircle.org/ground-report/widows-in-india-unseen-problems/ Prompt: Stone of the Month - January 2024 "Intersection"|Gallery of Poems, Prose and Paintings, at the Viewing Stone Association of North America (VSANA), February 01, 2024. https://www.vsana.org/ppp-17-feb-1--24

Formal Declaration of 9

By: Ken ScottLos Angeles, California, USA It is time for us to end this.It is time for us to end the confusion,the congestion, the hustle culture,the vicious competition for survival,and the monetizationof human life itself.It is time for us to end this.It is time for us to end the original greed,the self-entitled avarice,the violent conquests,the hate, the wars,the tortures, the rapes,and the senseless slaughter,time for us to end the shootings,the hangings, the lynchings,the burnings, the bombings,the colonizations, the thefts,the genocides, the ethnic cleansings,and every last formof for-profit dehumanization.It is time for us to end the superstitions,the religious excuses, the pious…

Early Dusk

By John PappasBoston, Massachusetts, USA early dusk reaching into the warren winter’s chill

Descendents of an Antiquated Paradigm

By Richard Grahn (Editor's Contribution)Evanston, Illinois, USA the neverending TV screenbatters our brains with atrocitiesconditions of pain and eternal strifethe knife of the tyrant’s bloody reignwe consume news without a fightnight after night in shock and awewe sleep it off and return to the mawof the daily grindwhere we find ourselves milesfrom the frontthe battlelines drawnso long agoentrenched in our DNAwe cheer the forces of apocalypseas if that could solve our complicity from our State of Affairsattention fixedon the smoke and mirrorswe miss the factthat we’re standing on a planetour habits have battered and bruisedit doesn’t matter who wins the…

First Glance

By Florence HeyhoeCounty Down, Northern Ireland Looking at both cars, he doesn’t see any damage. His door barely touched the one alongside, but this was enough to awaken the roaring bull inside who—primed and looking for a fight—leaps to his feet shouting, ‘Go back to your own country. You’re not from here. You’re nothing but a f…ing paedophile.’ The situation heats up and becomes more threatening. He has the wherewithal to phone the police. While they wait, the antagonist draws blood by scoring his nose with his car keys. ‘‘Officer, this man here assaulted me.’’ october morninga world so broken the…

Late October

By: Steve Van AllenCincinnati, Ohio, USA, Earth global warming?a beautiful spring daylate October

The Blue Dot

By Bryan D. CookOrleans, Ontario, Canada Cloaked from earthling sight, two extraterrestrial fortune hunters gaze down at planet Earth. “Which bit do you want?” “I’d take the blue stuff but it’s so full of plastics that I’ll pass. How about you?” “ I’d take the green-brown stuff but it’s overrun with pillaging apes. I’ll pass too.” “ Let’s go find another trophy world and leave this one’s sun to evaporate away its atmosphere.”  “O.K., pity though, it looked like such a precious blue gem on the trajector screen!” ocean highwaytoo fast and busyfor humpbacks

Crunch

By: Theresa CancroWilmington, Delaware, USA the crunchof gravel underfootstop-and-frisk

Wild Violets

By Theresa CancroWilmington, Delaware, USA wild violetsbrushing her cheekthe shadow of a bruise Selected poem, 7th Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest, 2018

Allegory

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. eventidelonely swimsearching for peace

Depression Era

By Debbie StrangeCanada 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.

Ghost Gun

By: Debbie StrangeCanada First Published: Human/Kind Journal, November 2020

Childhood

By: Fatma Zohra HabisAlgiers, Algeria childhoodbetween war and sundreams

Ongoing War

By: Fatma Zohra HabisAlgiers, Algeria ongoing wara stranger digs the gravefor a stranger

Oriental Plane 

By Diana WebbLeatherhead, 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 rugwith shade of myriad summerswe shake out the tears