CLOSED to Submissions until November 3, 2025 CLOSED to submissions until Oct 3, 2025

Best of the Net 2025 Nominations CLOSED to Submissions

From the archives — First Aubade by Jeremy Heartberg First Aubade by Jeremy Heartberg from Autumn Sky Poetry Number 3, December 2006

Saturday book feature — Balance by Laurie Kuntz Balance by Laurie Kuntz from Balance (Moonstone Press 2025)

Perseids by Bonnie Proudfoot Editor's Note: This lovely poem reminds the reader that there is not just one thing of beauty to love, but many.

Wax Wings by Nicole Michaels Editor's Note: This poem's energetic closing stanza is the perfect ending to the story of birds whose beauty never fails to enchant those who are fortunate enough to see them.

The Mellowing by Vaishnavi Pusapati Editor's Note: At first glance, this quiet poem offers gentleness, but soon peels back the layer of calm to reveal the true nature of a surrendered relationship.

The Lavender Dress by Nanette Schieron Editor's Note: This narrative poem shows the reader that if the emotional framework is sound, the missing details don't matter—heartbreak is universal.

CLOSED to Submissions until October 3, 2025 CLOSED to submissions until Oct 3, 2025

Headed Home by Karen Kinley Editor's Note: This poem carries the reader through a space that is both overwhelming and ordinary—a train, a commute, and the wish for a place that is better.

From the archives — How Language Lets Us Down by Corey Mesler How Language Lets Us Down by Corey Mesler from Autumn Sky Poetry Number 4, December 2006

Saturday book feature — Soundtrack by Alex Stolis What we once thought we had we didn’t by Alex Stolis from Soundtrack (Whittle Micro-Press 2025)

Summer Show by Sarah Daly Editor's Note: This poem's narrative focuses on regret and frustration, and how difficult it is to accept life when it leads somewhere you never wanted it to go.

Today by J.R. Solonche Editor's Note: The repetition in this poem hammers home the speaker's yearning for an innocence that likely only existed in childhood, but is longed for nonetheless because of the present moment's difficult reality.

Turning Forty by Jason Barry Editor's Note: This poem leads the reader into the speaker's regret over past inaction with a gritty sort of courage—this is the truth of life, and this age is where one faces it.

In the Pale Heat of Late September by Devika Mathur Editor's Note: The unique imagery in this poem allows the reader to experience the emotional ache of the speaker with startling clarity.

Absence by Dean Abbott Editor's Note: This poem's use of personification and repetition creates a framework for an emotional narrative rich with both love and persistence.

From the archives — The White Oak by Martin J. Elster The White Oak by Martin J. Elster from Autumn Sky Poetry DAILY, August 4, 2023

Saturday book feature — Ice Cream for Lunch: A Grandparents Handbook by Laura Foley Joy and Sorrow by Laura Foley from Ice Cream for Lunch: A Grandparents Handbook (The Poetry Box, 2025)

Earliest Memory by Greg Watson Editor's Note: This poem offers a story by denying the narrative multiple times until the reader can't help but read between the lines to find the trauma hidden within.

Lavender by Carole Greenfield Editor's Note: This almost-sestina uses the form's repetition to beautifully illustrate the persistence of love and grief and memory.

Dreaming, Drowning by Dale A. Lombardi Editor's Note: This poem's surreal imagery carries the reader into a prayer where pain and beauty coexist in a balance that feels like peace.

The lane where she went missing by Ian Clarke Editor's Note: The melancholy imagery in this poem illustrates the speaker's despair with perfectly chosen metaphors of grief.

to a young woman who took too many painkillers by Isabel Chenot Editor's Note: This poem's message transcends the rhyme and slant rhyme to slip directly into the heart of the reader where fear and suffering and choice reside.

From the archives — With the Current by Richard Jordan With the Current by Richard Jordan from Autumn Sky Poetry DAILY, August 10, 2022

Saturday book feature — Your name is a poem by Roseanne Freed A poem begins with a lump in the throat by Roseanne Freed, from Your name is a poem (Picture Show Press, 2024)

On a Beautiful Afternoon in August by Matthew King Editor's Note: This musical sonnet carries the reader into the speaker's reluctance to face that most difficult of weather—oneself.

Chipped Dishes by Richard Cummins Editor's Note: This narrative poem carries the reader through a life where each choice lingers in the mind with an unexpected weight.

Constructing Love like an Intentional Japanese Shinto Zen Rock Garden by Martin Willitts Jr. Editor's Note: The quiet imagery of this poem holds a multitude of years and memory and pain and hope.

From Here to Horse by Emily Adamek Editor's Note: This poem speaks of how we move through life from childhood to adulthood, and in the end, nothing much changes even as everything does.

Hot Yoga in the Boiling Beast of Summer by Sara Ries Dziekonski Editor's Note: This poem's missing punctuation and sensory-driven lines convey a sense of disquieting imbalance inherent in life when one's parent passes.

From the archives — By the briny sea by Sven Kretzschmar By the briny sea by Sven Kretzschmar from Autumn Sky Poetry DAILY, August 10, 2021

Saturday book feature — The Living Law by Jesse Keith Butler The Life We Chose by Jesse Keith Butler, from The Living Law (Darkly Bright Press, 2024)

From the archives — Ostinato by Esther Greenleaf Mürer by Esther Greenleaf Mürer from Autumn Sky Poetry, Number 14, July 2009

When the Lichen Grows by Jenna Wysong Filbrun Editor's Note: This poem's personification carries the reader into an environment that feels familiar and necessary and wild.

White Pickets by Shoshauna Shy Editor's Note: This poem's quiet pain permeates the lines with understated imagery that cuts deep.

Empty Day by David Mark Williams Editor's Note: This poem personifies a moment in time in order to teach us how to be present within the clamor of our lives, lest we miss the beauty.

Stuck by Tom Lagasse Editor's Note: This poem's narrative serves as a metaphor for the larger issues we can't escape—life, society, politics, and finally, the inevitable march of time.

From the archives – Seaside Pentina for a Chinese Painter by Marly Youmans Seaside Pentina for a Chinese Painter by Marly Youmans from Autumn Sky Poetry DAILY, June 10, 2021

Saturday book feature — I Can’t Recall Exactly When I Died by Diane Elayne Dees Seeking My Inner Clementine by Diane Elayne Dees from I Can't Recall Exactly When I Died (Kelsay Books, 2025)

Yes, You Can Have a Boyfriend in Kindergarten by Michelle Meyer Editor's Note: This narrative poem illustrates intolerance and its pitiable juxtaposition with love and joy.

Like a Sunflower by Vaishnavi Pusapati Editor's Note: This poem feels like an exuberant ode to love until the final lines illustrate the darker side of obsession.

Haiku by Marlyce Walker Editor's Note: This poem's imagery creates the story, the emotion, and the loss with startling economy.

Hummingbird by Carole Greenfield Editor's Note: This poem's deft imagery creates a narrative of survival built upon resilience and persistence and hope.

Thoughts while doing my PT exercises by Julia Klatt Singer Editor's Note: This poem exists to remind anyone who has ever suffered an injury that healing is neither easy nor perfect.

From the archives — Sutra by Rick Mullin Sutra by Rick Mullin from Autumn Sky Poetry DAILY, July 25, 2023

Saturday book feature — Pools of June by Mary Meriam Trees by Mary Meriam from Pools of June (Exot Books 2022)

Loss Circled by KB Ballentine Editor's Note: This poem's imagery creates that sense of loss that we all instinctively understand, but wish we didn't.

Broken by J.R. Solonche Editor's Note: This poem's questions highlight the collective trauma of a broken people who must question reality as if it has become a fictional playground.

Stones by Daniel Milbo Editor's Note: This poem's playful lines remind the reader that love and joy and life are often dependent on remembering that everything is both short and long, lovely and ephemeral.