Posts for June 21, 2026 (page 8)

Registration photo of EDL for the LexPoMo 2026 Writing Challenge.
Category
Poem

Crossroads

I wanted to go right,
but at the end of the road
a fallen tree
blocked my path.

I turned left,
hoping for
a better experience.

The drive started smoothly,
aside from gravel
crashing against
the side of my car.

I slammed the brakes.
Pulse rising.
Shattered windshield.

Where did that massive,
terrifying rock come from?

My heart tried to beat
its way through my chest.
This road is not safe,
at least for me.

I stopped the car.
Stepped outside
and walked
my own path.

Maps made by others
never led me home.
I was never meant
to drive.


Registration photo of Alora Jones for the LexPoMo 2026 Writing Challenge.
Category
Poem

I’m Left Thinking

For Kent

 
Today, I’m left thinking
about his girls, grown 
in the sense of pursuit
and exploring the world
not quite in the hustle 
of adulthood, but wound
still fresh of his passing. 
 
I’m left thinking 
about his wife, spitfire,
strength that mortal men
quiver to, quake of her voice
always listened, but him,
he listened because he loved
and knew she was, generally, 
always right, a crack 
left in her heart by the quake
quiet death brought. 
 
I’m left thinking
how he mentored hundreds,
kids, adults, with hungry
ambition, and hearts turned
noble by his words. I took
every syllable as gold and 
gospel, truths about life
spoken by a man who had
lived, but still deserved more
time. Even 4 years of knowing
you, was enough to understand 
I’ll never forget. 
 

Registration photo of Jules Unsel for the LexPoMo 2026 Writing Challenge.
Category
Poem

space travel

starship enterprise
engage the aft transporter
one to disembark

to seek out new life
and new civilizations
the alpha quadrant

vessel approaching
open hailing frequencies
lower the shields

lock on tractor beam
modulate the deflectors
set phasers to stun

the hull is buckling
warp core breach is imminent
photon torpedo

live long and prosper
all transporters are offline
the final frontier


Registration photo of Mya Sophia for the LexPoMo 2026 Writing Challenge.
Category
Poem

Litha/Summer Solstice

Praise be the sun on this longest
day
The summer days stretch &
the sun gives us his glory
I watch a bee on a cosmos
Praise be to that which created
the universe, who chose the gift
of life.
As we turn in the wheel, I pray
to be a devoted as the bee,
as trusting as the nasturtium
who can’t guarantee the sun
will be there when they rise
as open & grounded as the pine
and as joyous as the sun himself
who will never dim his light for anyone.

May I continue to reconnect
with ancestral knowledge & the land
The climate keeps getting worse
& it’s all our fault, may I 
continue to reconnect to her, Mother earth
I have been severed from you
for far to long.


Registration photo of saltmeridian for the LexPoMo 2026 Writing Challenge.
Category
Poem

***

the polished blade of the corridor
leads her to the council chamber

the eyes of the leering lords
latch to her heavy gait
their minds full of scorpions
their breath of iron and decay

for it is true what they say that
even your own shadow
abandons you in the dark

someone spoke of grain and maize
someone spoke of borders, blood
your grace –
no, let us proceed

the realm awaits
the wheel shall never miss a turn

let rattle snakes rattle
let weeping willows weep

never let the frame
of things disjoint

not even as beneath
the ancient swords and banners
white ink
blossoms
through her silk –
warm milk
meant for a mouth
no longer hungry


Registration photo of A. G. Vanover for the LexPoMo 2026 Writing Challenge.
Category
Poem

Forts & Hugs

My wife made me a banner
my kids colored in the things they like.
They stayed up to show me
too late, because work went long.
I have to leave on Father’s Day at 5:15 AM
so I celebrated on a Saturday night.
My wife wrote me a card
filled it with her own impactful words
gave me an amazing gift with a dad joke.
She printed off cards for the kids
they all said their dad is best at hugs.
I hug my kids often
I tell them I love them more.
They were so excited to celebrate me
and I feel like they did too much.
Fatherhood is work I want
to do. Selfishly, it heals the hurts
buried in me
dioxin in a superfund’s soil.

My son Jackson’s
answers for
what does dad help me with?
and
what do I love to do with my dad?
were both— build forts.
I didn’t build forts much
when I was a little boy.
I didn’t know I could ask
or necessarily that I even wanted to.
We build a fort almost every day
for Jack to snuggle inside, climb on,
his brother to destroy
or some mix of all of it.
This is my fourth Father’s Day
and it feels strange to be celebrated
for the thing I love most. 


Registration photo of Autumn Cook for the LexPoMo 2026 Writing Challenge.
Category
Poem

golden

Golden boy,
with lanky limbs
and sky eyes.
A quick wit word, 
a twin bed and
friendship were
all you could offer me. 

Golden boy,
all filled out
and sweet tongued.
A before work kiss,
half of you dancing in me and
so much love are
not half of what you’ve given me. 

I can’t tell you
who I am anymore.
Can you tell me?
Who am I,
if not yours?


Registration photo of Rebecca Richards for the LexPoMo 2026 Writing Challenge.
Category
Poem

Top of the Food Chain of Events

I groggily navigated stairs in the soft morning light
The dog wagging patiently at the door for morning breakout

The dog burst into the back yard bounding to the fence
Startling a frozen bunny out of the waving sea oats

The bunny bulleted to hide in the wide hydrangea leaves
Spooking the squirrel hanging inverted, feasting at the bird feeder

The squirrel lithely leapt to the dense foliage of the viburnum 
Jarring a mother cardinal feeding her nestling

The cardinal flitted to the top of the curly willow, for chick to follow
Attracting the attention of the red shouldered hawk, peering from the holly

You know where this is going…


Registration photo of Chelsie Kreitzman for the LexPoMo 2026 Writing Challenge.
Category
Poem

Bumblebee on a Purple Thistle

Furred and yellow as
a cartoon bear, her broad black
legs traverse a sphere
of vivid floral fringe, tongue
siphoning sweetness from spikes.


Registration photo of Kathy Rueve for the LexPoMo 2026 Writing Challenge.
Category
Poem

Preacher Girl

It was that little preacher girl who brought me to Christ I swear it was.

Of course, by the second day of the Great Revival camp meeting I am

ready to fall on my knees and declare my faith to the first preacher man

who can make me feel the Glory of God all the way down into my bones.

 

I watch her climb onto that old white oak stump, rain starting to fall

as lightning flashes and the boom of thunder crashes over our heads.

She looks up, her hands clasped together and calls out, “Help me

Jesus, bring these good people into your presence. Make them

 

“believe like they never believed before that You are goodness and

light, Your heart filled with love for every one of them standing here

under these trees. Show them they don’t need no foreordination

to be worthy of Your mercy, of Your forgiveness, of Your love.”

 

She is so delicate, her voice high but strong as she begins to sing

“O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer’s praise.” The

sweetness of her being fills the air as those around me begin falling to

the ground, crying and singing and praying, under the spell of God.

 

That is when I am taken by the Spirit of Christ into my own special

fire of ecstacy and awakening, ready to accomplish works worthy of

my salvation. Someday I am gonna marry that girl so we can raise

our own little angels to praise this world and all of its glories.