Two Poems by Vern Fein

Marta Dzedyshko

O, MACRINA

In Roman times when the church was fledgling,

babies were abandoned along the Appian Way. 

While their keening parents kneeled,

soldiers pushed  them down drains by the hundreds,

mainly girls and the deformed and weak

until the church saw and responded.

In those days, the church lurched between helping the poor

or erecting church buildings and monuments.

It was not the brothers Gregory and Basil

who swept up these helpless infants.

It was their sister Macrina. 

Praise you for your denial of a privileged life.

Praise you for attending famines

to rescue the poor when flesh hung like cobwebs,

for saving those girls and marshaling an army

of church mothers to do the same,

bring them home to raise.   

Now we treat immigrants like those road babies,

may we respond to Macrina's example. She knew 

that Mary had raised a poor baby who was rejected

because he was not conceived the way he was supposed to be.

VESPER

An angel decided to rescue an angel.

Evil humans capture angels,

neglect them and treat them cruelly—

so we have shelters for rescue.

Floated to a loving home,  

a little white cloud of a dog, 

named Vesper, as holy as an

evening prayer, a daily

answer for the angels

who found each other.

© Vern Fein

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Vern Fein

A recent octogenarian, Vern Fein, has published over 300 poems and short prose pieces on more than 100 websites. A few are Gyroscope Review, Young Raven’s Review, Bindweed, *82 Review, River And South, Grey Sparrow Journal, and One Art.  His second poetry book—REFLECTION ON DOTS—was released late last year. 

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TRUST by Susan P. Blevins

 

ICXOD

TRUST

Dreaming,

I stand upon the mountain

reaching high and dark into the sky.

Where to start my ascent?

 

Tentatively I set out, feeling small and fearful.

I look toward the distant peak

and see a huge figure straddling the mountain,

strong, secure, solid,

a giant.

 

He reaches down and scoops me up,

in an instant I am in his arms on the mountain peak.

He holds me to him, lovingly,

then stretches his huge arms,

holding me out like an offering, over the abyss,

and in the abyss is the whole world,

all peoples, all nations, all cities.

I feel no fear, only calm and total trust.

 

I understand that God Himself is holding me.

 

Ever since this dream I know no fear.

My trust in God is absolute.

Whatever happens, or will happen to me,

I know that I am safe,

cradled in the arms of divine love. 

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Susan P. Blevins 

Susan P. Blevins was born in England and subsequently spent all but the first twenty years of her life in Italy and the USA. She had a weekly column in an international newspaper while living in Rome, and now publishes her writing in various literary publications worldwide.

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Steadfast by John Doriot

Aaron Berden

Steadfast

As I walk through placid woods,

Evil works destroy good. 

Shadows grow within the light,

They always will; that’s why we fight.

It will win battles here or there, 

With innocence, victim, when we don’t care.

But in these woods, I hold so dear,

I know that God will calm my fear.

Never will I forget to pray,

Or see the beauty in another day. 

Camellia’s colors, a Lenten Rose, 

A Daffodil, in stately pose.

Twisted trees and upright pines,

Provide me with peace of mind. 

My dog who walks, with me each day,

Shows me when I fall astray.

And with my eyes upon a wooded path,

My faith in God remains steadfast. 

 

(first appeared in From Sorrow to Tomorrow in 2022)

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John Doriot 

John Doriot is an award-winning author and poet. He has written 18 books and received eight Georgia Independent Author of the Year Awards from 2022 to 2026. These include best horror/thriller novel (Litter), best science fiction novel (The Cures), best short-story collection twice (Grimmer Folk Stories, Idioms), and best poetry collection (From Sorrow to Tomorrow, Slowly, I Grow). He was also a 2025 finalist for his poetry collection, Spiritual Roots, and a 2026 finalist for the suspense/thriller The Unsettled. He has contributed short stories and poems to many journals and magazines, such as Antipodean SF, Last Girls’ Club, Flash Fiction, MetaStellar, and The Solitude Diaries.

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Embodied by Laura Rodley

Madison Oren

Embodied 

Smooth as the beech bark, 

cool to the touch, easy to caress,

slight ripples of wear, small scars,

his branches reaching out thin 

and strong, his buds so full of spring,

leaves ready to fling open, but not yet.

Not sharply serrated, two inches deep

hunks of bark waiting to be broken off

protecting the heart of the maple and white ash;

even the sycamore mirrors 

his smoothness, but for the patches

where its bark is lighter, as though

peeled away from sunburn and healed, 

the sycamore casting spiky fruit 

to protect itself, defend its young.

Not thinly lined up the trunk like 

young striped maple, yet as uneffacing,

patient, like birch bending backward with the force

of the wind when larger trees like the oak tremble. 

His skin encasing a living breathing

body that can walk on ground 

while the beech, oak, ash, and maple cannot. 

He can walk above the fingers of their roots

to carry their taproots inside him,

nourished by airborne rhizomes unseen.

© Laura Rodley

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Laura Rodley

Pushcart Prize winner Laura Rodley's latest books are Turn Left at Normal by Big Table Press, Counter Point by Prolific Press, and Ribbons and Moths Poems for Children, winner of the Children's Nonfiction International Book Award and medalist for the Moonbeam Book Award for Children's Poetry. 

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Ophelia by Barbara Leonhard

 

Mike Bird

Ophelia

There is a willow that grows aslant a brook…

-Shakespeare, Hamlet

When the old willow weeps, 

her shoulders bend to the sun, 

her ancient songs resound

in tune with us

Her light binds us to her limbs

Her learning and duty, her strength

to stand firm as we battle

Her skirt, a shelter to our fallen 

In her tears, no regrets

Our grief and despair seek solace

in this humble Sallow

We bow to her

in gratitude.

This poem appeared in Rough-Cut Elegies. It received a 2025 Pushcart nomination.

© Barbara Harris Leonhard

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Barbara Harris Leonhard

Barbara Harris Leonhard is the author of Three-Penny Memories: A Poetic Memoir (2022) and The Lost Book of Zeroth (2025). She is the co-author of Too Much Fun to Be Legal (2024) and Broken Rengay: Unruly Poetry (2025). She’s a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee. Trending Poets named her Poet of the Year more than once. Her poetry has been translated into Italian, Albanian, and Chinese. She is the Editor for MasticadoresUSA and FEED THE HOLY. Her blog is Extraordinary Sunshine Weaver. 

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