Category: Poetry

Red Flag is so much more than just postcards!

We also publish digitally, every other month, via the Poetry Express. This format gives us the freedom to publish work that won’t fit on a postcard but still needs to be shared with the world.

On this page, you will find all of our past Poetry Express poems with information about their authors. If you like these poems and want to get even more poetry delivered directly to your mailbox, head over to our subscribe page!

3/16/2017 Comments

Corey Mesler: "We Wanted Loose Change"

We Wanted Loose Change

We spent long darknesses
over greasy food
in cracked booths and
washed out glasses.
We learned the difference
between lay and lie,
and between Susie who loved
and Laurie who never
would. We were full of
pain because we
felt better listing to one side.
In our fists we
carried the fight into the
light. We tried to make
poems out of whatever
we were holding. We
tried to make love out
of whatever we were holding:
phone numbers, cigarettes, loose
change. We wanted readers
and chums. We wanted loose change.

Corey Mesler has been published in numerous anthologies and journals including: Poetry, Gargoyle, FIve Points, Good Poems American Places, and Esquire/Narrative. He has published 9 novels, 4 short story collections, and 5 full-length poetry collections. He has been nominated for the Pushcart many times, and 2 of his poems were chosen for Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac. With his wife he runs a 141 year-old bookstore in Memphis. He can be found at: https://coreymesler.wordpress.com.

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1/20/2016 Comments

Shawn McClure: LULLABY

Lullaby

you: conjured
with a
lover's prayer
so real i can
feel your
long arm reach
the length of me
stroke the pink tinged
hills and valleys
and smooth away
the miles
you: still the
heaving land
and silence
lips with a finger,
breath laced with
low sounds
that steam
cotton and skin
touch the tender
and livid streams
you: spread me
like cloud shadows,
a tapestry of light
and dark across
untilled fields
and quiet the beat
of want that throbs
inside me
like a second heart,
so i can sleep secret,
sacred

Shawn McClure is a visual artist and writer who resides in central New Jersey with her husband and two children. She has a passion for nature, science, and beauty found in unexpected places.

Some of her writing can be found at:
http://freshkeko.wordpress.com/

and her photo journal can be seen here:
https://tookapic.com/shawn

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10/20/2015 Comments

JOHN DORSEY: icarus Revisited

icarus revisited

juan stood chatting nervously
trading his dreams
for another lost love
& a glass of diet cola
with some poorly mixed spiced rum
as guests danced around
his problems like paper thin shadows
awaiting an
invisible sunset

christina & i handed him a card
wished him a happy birthday
and turned to leave
when he started taking out his hearing aids
& walked out onto the penthouse patio

learning to fly from eight stories up
in the philadelphia skyline

like a swan on fire
he almost made it
look easy

an outsider in
his
own heart
blowing unrequited kisses
at the pavement

where ex-lovers looked like ants
swooning to a silent ballet
only he knew the words to

making beautiful music
composing his melody

in blood.

John Dorsey is the author of several collections of poetry, including “Teaching the Dead to Sing: The Outlaw’s Prayer” (Rose of Sharon Press, 2006), “Sodomy is a City in New Jersey” (American Mettle Books, 2010), “Tombstone Factory” (Epic Rites Press, 2013), “Natural Selection: Early Poems” (Kilmog Press, 2014) and most recently, "Imaginary Foxholes" (Rusty Truck Press, 2015). His work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. He may be reached at archerevans@yahoo.com

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YOUR CART

Corey Mesler: "We Wanted Loose Change"

Shawn McClure: LULLABY

JOHN DORSEY: icarus Revisited

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