POETS PLACE
JANUARY 2026 EDITION
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Let our light shine through the darkness that may lay ahead. We must stay informed and diligent in our quest to resist the garbage that is spewing out at us in rapid pace! The new mayor of New York city has the right ideas to help the people who need it most. I hope he can do everything he wants to improve their city. If it works it will be a role model for the rest of the United States to follow. It will be a beam of light that will radiate across America! I am hopeful and afraid. I desperately want the 1% to pay their fair share of taxes, to forfeit their entitled mindset of owning the American people and holding them/us hostage to their despotic ideals. America is OUR country, and we must stand for democracy and uphold the laws. I am grateful that I still have a voice and can use it to promote good. POETS PLACE gives you the writer a platform to share your thoughts, views and words. Thank you to all who have contributed to this long standing column! We are going into our 6th. year in publication! Thank you mostly to Cathi Milligan, our publisher, who believes in us and in the truth and justice for all!!!
Spread the love!!!
RESIST! Love, Linda :0)
DEAR DEE/We dance thru time & tenses
By Mike Mollett
It’s 5 months and a day
since your final grand empowerment,
the one that we know of...
Dear Dee. Dear Dear Dear Dee.
I almost forgot your birthday, Dec 3,
remembering the last emotional
day of transformation with you, July 2,
when you chose to go on your own terms finally
end-of-life as we know it into your next adventure...
Some people here, celebrating
your birthday,
were with you when the red light
changed to green. You
guided us & coached us
as you are aplenty.
Damn. Swear word. Swear word. I hafta say,
it wasn’t easy,
the last few awfully painful months.
Friends knew half of it.
I knew ¾ of it.
You knew all of it. Level 10.
I wish you are with us touchibly to share
a cacio e pepe and a great caesar.
Are they still on All’Acqua’s menu?
This is hard to process, this conundrum of soul,
as our black cat Thisbe
jumps onto my writing lap in the dark
too-quiet early winter night.
My fingers feeling colder, heart askew
jammed with loss & finality.
This is NOT the ending we hoped for.
Each of us breathing & living on
are closer to you, even so, in new ways we may imagine...
I’ve written short bursts of thought/feeling texts
with you in me. They sit quietly in a closed notebook.
Now with a G & T at our Mt. Washington home,
a cluttered mess as I somewhat am, Dear Dee,
a family of us are with you, locked warmly into you
with food and drink dans le restaurant.
Where can we go from here but miss you, & your phonecalls.
We love you, wish so much with you,
a welcoming citadel inside us,
people positive, bettering who we are.
We live on (I can’t believe it!)
to enjoy life as brimming as we can,
with mountains and the Pacific,with memories and spirit alive full-on with passion.
Thank you, Dear Dee,
my complicated, complicating beautiful one.. .
You are matchless forever...
Mike Mollett, Poet, visual, performance artist.
Leader- LA Mudpeople. https://bit.ly/3khHBi6
Trophy Fell
By Ubongabasi Iyanam
I was only nine,
returning home after being
thrown on shoulders.
I couldn’t wait to show mummy
but I tripped on the road
my glass trophy fell on concrete
just outside my house.
It broke in pieces,
my joy pierced by
that sharp rusty iron arrow
somewhere in my chest.
nobody could see it
but mummy did.
she would pull it out slowly.
But first,
she would clean the blood off
my pain pierced palm.
then pick the pieces of my pain
and make art
she called it mosaic.
I called it miracle.
I’m nineteen now,
broken a couple of times
still I revere the mending
that makes things more beautiful
than they were before the fall.
Ubongabasi Iyanam is a poet, saxophonist, and law student. An ardent believer in the liberation of the mind, he is a human rights activist in nearly every dimension. He is currently working on his debut poetry album, Blues From A Broken Vinyl. When he’s not writing, he’s playing chess or listening to music.
Criticism
By Jackie Chou
A girl's orange stockings
seen on the fields
of a conformist school
are not unique
but odd, peculiar
according to you
Sometimes you are a pair of eyes
that cheapens everything
you glance at–
a diamond isn't precious
but vain, superficial
You stamp everything
a dollar ninety-nine
like some misplaced mink collar
in the swapmeet
Sometimes you are lips
that call all cheerleaders “bimbos”
You arise from the deep well
of jealousy and self-loathing
Everything you touch
becomes drab, lackluster
like the color of your heart
Jackie Chou (she/her) is a writer from Southern California who has two collections of poetry, The Sorceress and Finding My Heart in Love and Loss, published by cyberwit. Her poem "Formosa" was a finalist in the Stephen A DiBiase Poetry Prize. She also has poems published in Synchronized Chaos, The Ekphrastic Review, Panoply Zine, Alien Buddha Zine, and Spillwords.
The Mind Fields
©1993 Kassi Crews
Skipping through the mind fields
Faith in my heart
Once fatalistic
Once separated in parts.
Need to be whole
My mind does not rest
The light ripples in complete darkness
Is this only a test?
United I am
Body, mind, and soul
Finally, no need to have control.
This light bounces from space to space
Around anger, stupidity, and greed
There is no safe place, except in me.
So I skip through the mind fields
Bringing light where I can
Sharing love in this world
That is my life’s plan.
Kassi Crews is an entertainment industry veteran and a consummate storyteller. She is a versatile & accomplished actor with a rich background in film, television, improvisation, stand-up comedy, and theatre. Crews became an industry leader in Hollywood post-production as the Vice President of Digital Jungle where she oversaw the day-to-day operations and served as producer on an endless list of film and television projects. Most recently, Crews lead multiple post-production teams at Fox and Walt Disney Television, overseeing the workflows of all television for FX Networks including "The Americans," “Fargo" and “Pose" as well as a DI Producer for Apple, Netflix, CBS, CW, Starz & Paramount. Crews has produced and directed a variety of critically acclaimed independent projects, “Broken Memories,” Heart of Recovery”, “God’s Ears” and “A Better Place” as well as live shows for the theater. She is a member of ATAS, NAB, NAPTE, PROMAX and SAG; holds a Master of Arts from CSU Fullerton and a Bachelor of Arts with Honors from UC Santa Cruz.
A. Laura Brody
The first "Joy" was part of Kate Carvellas' "Exposition D'Art Miniature", a virtual showing in a scale model farmhouse Kate built during the pandemic. She then invited artists to share work no larger than 3" wide.
A Laura Brody began her professional career as a costume designer and maker, working in film, television, opera, dance, and cosplay. She changed course many times but kept returning to art making, community learning, and social justice. Her artwork has been shown at ACE/121 Gallery, Art Share LA, Brea Gallery, California State University Northridge, the Charles River Museum of Industry, the Dora Stern Gallery, Ikouii Creative, the Los Angeles Makery, Westbeth Center For the Arts, and The World of Wearable Art. Opulent Mobility (the series of exhibits she founded that re-imagine disability as opulent and powerful) has shown at the Mike Curb Gallery at CSUN, Thymele Arts, Arts Unbound, AVC Gallery, the Los Angeles Makery, USC's Hoyt Gallery, and Brand Library & Art Center.
"after the forest fire”
by linda m. crate
i remind myself
that even night
has stars and moonlight,
even in darkness i have
dreams;
light will rip apart
the frayed edges of
darknesses aligned with
negativity and nightmares—
i will know a kinder
universe,
magic will dance and heal
every wound in me;
things won't always be this
hard—
sometimes it hurts to hold
onto the flaming feathers of
hope,
but I know we will rise from
these ashes again;
we will be the flowers
blooming
after the forest fire.
Linda M. Crate (she/her) is a Pennsylvanian writer whose poetry, short stories, and essays have been published in a myriad of magazines both online and in print. She has seventeen published chapbooks the latest being: only the future knows (Alien Buddha Publishing, November 2025).
THE UNFINISHED CHAPTERS
By Mary Cheung
8-27-25
2:05 a.m.
If you were a lover of mine, a crush, and unrequited love...
You probably made it onto print.
And that's great,
because you had such a profound effect on me,
my life.
You were 1 of my highs...or lows,
and what an interesting story and plot twist you gave my life.
It certainly wasn't dull.
I have lived more than others.
And maybe less than some!
But they were mine...
The moments now hardened over time.
They've become gems at points of my life that twinkled and shined.
And anytime I want an adventure...
I can think back to Ricky...or Joshua...or John,
My magnum of a man.
The last 2 major crushes that I had…
Their names I can't even recall now…
They were hard getting over...
Their stories were so bittersweet and tempting,
And I had to wipe you from my brain just so that I could get over you.
So yeah, I can't remember their names,
and that is a good thing because now I won't be tempted to look you up.
Wait.... was it Javier? And Spencer???
Natalie, you Italian French minx,
You were a temptress who was the candy I could never have.
Cuz you kept your wrappers wound tight.
And teased me with glimpses here and there of your creamy skin.
Skin that I wanted to melt on my lips...
Enough poetry has been written about you all already.
In an effort to purge you from my psyche.
One left me with a song and heartache.
Another left me with flowers and questions...
Guess I'd better start on writing a new chapter so I can see where it'll end....
Mary Cheung is a multi-disciplinary artist. She has been creating art since she was little. Youngest in a family of eight. She came to America at the age of 2 and grew up in San Francisco. Attended American school during the day and Chinese school at night.
Mary has an AA degree in Fashion Design and a Best Costume Design Award from the NAACP. She often creates costumes for her art narratives and creations.
She was the recipient of 3 grants in 2024 and the Denis Diderot and Emerging Artist award. She has art exhibited and published locally and Internationally.
Her real passion and drive come from being able to engage the community while bringing hope, healing, joy, and human connection. It is her goal to be able to continue to do this while making an impact on society’s values and thinking.
“I hope that I can be a role model for others to find their own true voice in life through my art."
MELANIA KNEW #8
By Keith Kurlander
A bold pop art portrait rendered in pointillist dotted style, featuring a figure in a blue fedora hat with cyan band and matching blue suit with cyan collar. The face is depicted in bright cyan and white tones with simplified features including dark sunglasses and a subtle smile, creating a cool, mysterious character. The background explodes with a vibrant hot pink and black leopard print pattern that creates dramatic contrast with the cool blue tones of the subject. The left margin displays "DIS★OBAY" in magenta lettering against black, along with decorative graphic elements including ovals and abstract shapes.
Keith Kurlander “I've always been a creative soul, I make art, music, music videos, TV shows, films and mayhem. If you want to learn all about my fascinating life, here's a good place to start.” Life & Work with Keith Kurlander of Los Angeles https://voyagela.com/interview/life-work-with-keith-kurlander-of-los-angeles/ MUSIC LINK: https://www.idiot-savant.net/ ART LINK: https://www.artpal.com/disobay
Hell
By Heather Romero-Kornblum
I packed up clothes for you
in sizes too big
I cheerily picked out in some seasonal
clearance sale
Dinosaurs holding pizza slices
on t-shirts
claiming you got a
Pizza my heart
When you wore them
I wondered
if others would know you had
a mom who loved you and
was gone
A mom who no amount of love for you
could keep her alive
her body functioning
A mom who cried as she boxed
the clothes
sure she would never get to see you
in the next size up
When I came back to you
you didn't recognize me
My spirit departed
Replaced
By the woman who
walked through
All of the layers of hell
to come back to you
I get angry at you sometimes
for not realizing how lucky you are
I came back to earth
walked through the layers of hell for you
I slide into the skin you knew
And it isn't enough
A former academic researcher, Heather Romero-Kornblum returned to poetry after several near-death experiences due to Long Covid. She captures the crumbling of her marriage in the wake of her near-death experiences in I’M NOT OVER YOU – the 2025 Four Feathers Press Chapbook Contest winner.
She is published in multiple journals and anthologies, including with Women Who Submit in ‘This Makes up the Sky’ and ‘Accolades,’ LA Art News Poet's Place, Quiet Lightning’s ‘Sparkle and Blink,'‘ Four Feathers Press monthly anthologies, The Zest of the Lemon, and Plague 2020: A world Anthology of Poetry and Art About Covid-19 and has featured at multiple venues, including at the WordParty Poetry and Jazz monthly series, Sacred Grounds – the longest running open mic in San Francisco, Mutiny Radio, Poems under the Dome, Four Feathers Press, Cobalt Poets, and Lyrical Flames.
https://www.heatherkornbooks.com/
Client as Deity
By Anna Broome
Pointing out the vast difference
Between pleasure and curiosity
Perhaps may have fallen from the delights of a habitual life.
For I have loved feeling sad and not knowing why
The sorrow felt deep inside the swelling of my waking
Has brought me merciful impurity of which I refuse to beware!
I am now hovering over a mindful silence breaking across adventure a lack of spirituality-
Thankful for the gift of fearlessness served to me on a plate made of craters.
Enormous compulsion and the sense of impressions
come to terms and embrace the simplicity often addressed
and welcomed since nothing explored earns devotion
if it isn’t vulnerable enough to grasp an aspect
Of living so precious as to call it experience--
And, I know this belonging to my own reality!
So we are all to put back the slumber
that follows revolution and atonement
since none of this has ever happened long enough to abate humanity properly.
Through the entrance of moth eaten virtues,
seeing them with my eyes:
Rivers and stars and mountains
Seem immune from the coupled sense of hope and integrity of loss.
And the immense catastrophes
guaranteed by the flaws of a less than evolved species.
If we had no mind
To follow companions into gardens and urge them to return
Finding them everywhere.
Their questions and strokes internal and frowned upon
with good reason would never stand for any other person’s truth
and act impiously as a matter of grace!
An existence made from the divine never applauds along with a standing ovation
As a Mother made of deeds of sacrifice
Begging to be freed isn’t adored by either a heavenly entity or a human child:
Fraught yet adulterated like the charity that builds...
Forgetfulness to seek or reveal in satisfaction...
Matchless instead against guilt-ridden conduct and abandoned human allegiances...
Imagine a doleful look
on the faces of a world audience
springing from no tragedies of others:
Yet clearly determined whether variations
Is the length of day and night
Account for the dream which confuses even particles of perseverance.
Destined to excel in any direction unscrupulous or wondrous:
Let’s see life as wretched as long as we insist on oppression
as the best course of action and mediocrity as a pleasant way to pass the time.
Perish in the thought, anxiously incongruous seeking forgiveness.
Concentrating on the problems-- noticing the client
We serve is the only deity that
corrupts in a way contrary to nature:
That which gives life is given life by the living and the dying--
for watching iniquity from harm as always afraid
had cultivated wisdom
dragging along a chain
beating away self-awareness as it comes to light.
Anna Broome is a Los Angeles poet who has published in various anthologies and journals including Acts of Light, LA Art News and Spectrum 17. Broome performs for local troupes including Public Works Improvisational Theatre’s Storyphile at venues including Beyond Baroque and Art Share LA. She produces and hosts the Anna Broome Room, a monthly, free-to-the-public live-performance art show for the last ten years at Art Share LA. Broome studied poetry at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington with Pulitzer Prize nominee Michael White. “Women Napping with Animals”, her collaborative project with Ted Meyer, was published in 2014. Her first collection of poetry, “Orthodox Bats”, was published in 2019. Her second collection “Sex Ed: A Prerequisite at Columbine” was published in 2022. Her new collection “An Irregular Bone” is currently under consideration for the Wilder Prize.
Looking Around On A Rainy Day
By Dean Okamura
My muse competes with the voice
of my dead, nagging mother
while water carves mud on sidewalks
into meditative Moroccan designs
Some see chaos
Others see omens
Muse says to ponder
The little plants
They did not wash away
"See how they stood up to the storm"
and I have hope, surviving
the upcoming storms of 2026
Then my mother chimes in:
"I told you to clean up the backyard"
Dean lives in Torrance, CA, which means rainy days are few. He's happy to stay inside and stay warm. 2026 is going to have storms -- storms usually pass and the sun is always there waiting.
Electric Food
By Darren Hembd
Most of us have trouble remembering to keep the fridge on at night so there's no spoilage. Well some of us anyway. But we also forget to unplug it, so it balances out in the checkbook of life.
"I will leave my refrigerator plugged in," vowed the person named Diddler Von Hoffington. His goal was to have unspoiled food in the morning, while everyone scrambled to shop at Foods R Us.
When television ads promised a new way to eat and avoid spoiling food at the same time, we listened but good. Our poetic antennae were all about getting breakfast done right for a change.
"So then you plug it in, like in diagram one," explained Sessy Shoehorn. Her previous work included a spoken word version of wild coyotes playing poker in the prairies. "Then you go to sleep."
In the morning, your food is charged up and now you can wash it down with Beggar's Choice Beverages. The flavored version allows for maximum taste experience, just like in those early movies.
"I feel like I drank the first talkie," bragged Harkler Castman. He had a tattoo of his favourite animal on the bottom of his foot. It would help him cherish the memory of Tommy the kangaroo.
If you were all sluggish before lunch, you didn't remember to eat all your electric breakfast. It happens. And before you petition the government, be sure it is fully charged before eating it.
"I will represent you in Congress," promised congressperson Jessie McDuffler. "But I cannot go to your house and charge your food for you. You have to remember to do stuff on your own."
Great things can be accomplished under the influence of food. Like motor functions, thought, and conjugation. You see, we take talking for granted because we are forced to do it all the time.
"Did you finish your electric breakfast?" asked Officer Donson. You couldn't tell because of his thick aviator shades, but his eyes were closed in the face of progress. There were tickets to write.
You might as well forget about the electric cookbooks they sell down by the pier. You might as well store water in plastic bags, for it makes as little if not less sense to mess with breakfast.
"Just charge me at night and then eat me," scolded the yet to be eaten electric food. Its number one pet peeve was not being charged fully, with getting tinkered about with a strong second.
I had a nightmare once that I tried to eat electric food while sleepwalking. I followed myself through the hall as I prepared to break the unwritten rule, and woke up with a start.
"What was I thinking?" I thought to myself. A photo of Tongue Chapman smiled at me from across the room. "Oh yeah, everything will be alright. Thanks to my faith in Professor Chapman."
I wanted to take a tour of the Electric Food Factory down by Jimmy's Newspaper Museum. Parking was not to be so, but I kind of knew that already. Thankfully, I had the energy needed to walk.
The End.
Darren Hembd is a " Survivor of abuse that processes trauma through writing.
more stories at: https://substack.com/@darrenhembd “
When I Am Free
By Erik J. Rader
When I am free
The first thing I am going to do
Is go to the pacific and stand in the surf
And taste it on my lips and drink
The color in through my eyes,
The improbable turquoise fringed
With white, the glittering magnesium flares
On the waves spiking beneath
The brutal sun
The sand the color of a book’s pages
With mementi mori strewn upon it
And I’m going to run out into the surf
And drown, or live, whatever,
Baptised by my own surrender
And when I have exhausted my craving
For death, and survived, I will get back
Into my car and drive across the bridge
And seek wonders, trees of parallel universes,
Strangely familiar, arches of pink stone,
Purple sky, blue clouds, cars hushed,
And I’m going to find people to be around
That aren’t afraid of being
Alive
Erik was born in 1965 and is a songwriter & poet living free range in the south puget sound region of the US. their music is available on most streaming services.
peace, erik j. rader
Love Song
by Snow Mack
2026
Image "In Case of Broken Heart, Break Glass"
Love Song
Put another dollar in the meter, said the devil to the bride
Love him more, makes no difference to your pride
Place another dollar on the wheel said the dealer to the groom
The more she brings, the less of you in the room
These 3 words make separate beds out of fear
May the devil and the dealer clasp hands
A clear path to light
Where dreams collide, rolling the dice
Colors bloom in the night
To have and to hold till life's last breath
Make the most of this love song
Snow Mack (she, her) is a contemporary visual artist known for her vibrant, dream-inspired paintings and symbolic assemblage frames. Her work blends pop culture, mythology, and surreal imagery to explore the subconscious, resulting in visually rich narratives that are both personal and archetypal. Snow Mack lives and works in Los Angeles, where she continues to develop a body of work that merges vivid imagination, cultural commentary, and a deep symbolic vision. SnowMack.com - IG @snowmackart
THANKS FOR JOINING US!!!!
Please submit your written work to: lindakayepoetry@icloud.com
and include a short bio
Linda Kaye writes poetry, curates poetry, produces films, spoken word and art events and produces a poetry column POETS PLACE for the online publication LAARTNEWS, throughout the Los Angeles area. She recently exhibited her first piece of artwork! A photograph taken in Waikiki, was represented at the Los Angeles Makery gallery’s REFLECTION:RESILIENCE show curated by the Arroyo Arts Collective.
Linda’s poetry events have included several summer poetry salons, and shows at the Los Angeles Makery, the Align Gallery, 50/50 Gallery, Gold Haus Gallery, Ave 50 Gallery and Rock Rose Gallery in Highland Park, The Manifesto Café in Hermon, Pilates and Arts Studio in Echo Park, and Native Boutique, Zweet Café in Eagle Rock, The Los Angeles Makery in Little Tokyo. And at the Neutra Institute Gallery and Museum in Silverlake. Her first short documentary film “BORDER POETS” was a socially and politically inspired event with poets and musicians filmed at the border wall near Tecate, Mexico on the Jacumba, Ca. side of the US. The film co-produced by MUD productions is available for viewing on her website and on youtube. https://youtu.be/5Te4-dlhxco
Her rap music video project in collaboration with Mary Cheung, “ERACE-ISM” can also be seen on youtube. https://youtu.be/NfrbveNUBgg This video was accepted into the Ontario Museum of History & Art show “We the People” Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow. February 2- April 16, 2023. So honored!!
And… February 19, 2022, she debuted her staged poetry production of “20 Years Left” at the historic Ebell Club in Highland Park! Two sold out shows with 2 standing ovations!! Check out the links to reviews and the video!
https://thehollywoodtimes.today/20-years-left-new-show-performance-poetry-music/
20 Years Left youtube live stream 2/19/22
Linda Kaye is a native Angeleno who grew up in the San Fernando Valley. She claims to be both a first-generation Valley Girl, and The Original Hipster. Educated at Antioch University and Cal State Long Beach in psychology and social work. Linda, now retired from medical social work, was working for her last seven years of employment as a psychotherapist and licensed clinical supervisor for an out patient mental health clinic. She was a licensed medical social worker for 30+ years working on the front line of healthcare, a private consultant for Physicians Aid Association and for skilled nursing facilities throughout California and Arizona. She was also an adjunct assistant professor at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. Oh yeah.
Twitter/Instagram: lindakayepoetry
http://voyagela.com/interview/daily-inspiration-meet-linda-kaye/https://
shoutoutla.com/meet-linda-kaye-poet-poetry-and-theatrical-producer-filmmaker/