• Best of the Net 2023 Nominations

    Autumn Sky Poetry DAILY is delighted to announce the following poems have been nominated for inclusion in 2024’s Best of the Net anthology: Flight Path by Laura RodleyThe Sonnet by Ed HackRailway Station, Bendery, Moldova by Tovli SimiryanBaptism by Greg WatsonMaking Up by Larina WarnockAll the best stories are true by Julia Klatt Singer —read more—

Lush Life by Paul Ilechko

Lush Life

The lushness of city living
the darkness. . . .the noisome

stench of summer. . . .the cracks
that scar the boulevards as winter

bites. . . .as halogen erupts. . . .a
secondhand life of voyeuristic

obligation. . . .the jacket torn
the ramshackle shoes of sidewalk

life. . . .a fleshy strength. . . .his
shoulder shrugging nonchalance

the choice of violence. . . .avoiding
TV windows. . . .the dead

eyes of yesterday. . . .a memory
of Kentucky clay. . . .the kernel

of his presence. . . .his forgiveness
his blamelessness. . . .the corner-hugging

saxophone that infiltrates
his dreaming. . . .resplendent

in his filth. . . .he walks in circles
living on the tangent of his line.

by Paul Ilechko

Paul on Facebook

Editor’s Note: This poem is even more free than most free verse, but the choice of form (spaces, missing punctuation) skillfully emphasizes the fractured mental space of the speaker.

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