Public Republic

Christina Lovin

Photo: Zest-pk
They love each other.
There is no loneliness like theirs.
James Wright, “A Blessing”
Now there are two. Seven deer, I’m told, before
the cougar’s appetite growled: one by one they were taken
down to the forest’s soft floor. Just these two escaping:
a tale told by the ragged ear of the [...]

Christina Lovin

Photo: Ctd 2005
I wanted to write something deep,
but your eyes are only blue: that color
of October oceans or the clear skies
of May, though not so fathomless.
Your gaze holds more these tidal pools
reflecting August’s rain-thirsty heaven
and flocks of greedy gulls. Knowing
them to be too shallow, too warm, I plunge
into the petulant surf, while you take [...]

Photo: lepiaf.qeo
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Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.
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Photo: Niffty
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Love is like a fruit in season at all times. Love can warm three winter months.

Roger Conner Jr.

Photo: banoootah_qtr
James and Anita lay on the bed, flat on their back with not a stitch of clothes on. This was first time they had done this in years, maybe since college. It was a cool night for July so the air conditioner was off and a soft breeze moved ever so slightly [...]

R. L. Burns
The elevator opened on the twelfth floor and Rose hurried out of it, glad to escape its confines as well as its emptiness. Elevators made her sad now – especially hotel elevators. She still couldn’t believe that he was not coming.  She had made this reservation some time ago – ha! It seemed like a [...]

R. L. Burns

Photo: Flowery *L*u*z*a*
She felt him before she saw him.  Even with the wind howling around the corner of the building, her hair in her eyes, the hem of her black velvet skirt flapping against her calves, she felt him.  She had no idea from which direction he would come, but instinctively she looked [...]

R.L.Burns

Photo: nattu
There are many things I wish I didn’t remember at all. Being raped at sixteen. A stepfather who beat the hell out of my mother, my sister and me. The hatred I felt towards him. Taking a gun to kill him and nearly killing myself instead. Rejection. The disappointment of every romantic relationship I have ever had. I went from a drunken, [...]

Mariana Velichkova

Photo: krystynana
I collected
the remnants of my pride
piece by piece
I cleared up
the shelves of my mind
thought by thought
I put away
the matters of the heart
that don’t matter anymore
in a cold, dry, secret
place to store
along with useless souvenirs
of fragile memories
worn-out masks of
laughing, crying,
deceptive closeness,
romantic explanations
second hand

Donal Mahoney

Photo: sir_mervs
After 30 years together,
Carol tells me late one evening
in the manner of a quiet wife
that I have yet to write a poem
about her, something she
will never understand in light
of all those other poems
she says I wrote

Drew Logan

Photo: erix!
She wrapped her
drunken fist
around the neck of
the almost drunk
bottle of pale
yellow gin

Richard Luftig

Photo: byrion
In late November,
the bank of autumn closes
its doors for the year, calls
in outstanding loans, issues
certificates of deposit
not redeemable until May
and bearing no interest
in our survival. Love falls

Chuck Clenney

Photo: carbonnyc
Sunday Morning, I find myself
Reading old love letters
Reminiscing of how my hands
Remember how your body felt.

Ivailo Dimanov

Photo: jesse.millan
There are some people that nobody loves. Either because of their past, or their peculiar personality, others – just like that, without obvious reason. Sotir Peshev is not only unloved, he is feared.
You, said Mr. Gavrailov – chief of a Ceremonial home, are no longer a simple [...]

Suzanne Nielsen

Photo: candlescents
Lester Wilcox spoke of his love of firearms
shortly before he took his last breath. His sister
stood above him removing the PVC pipe that silenced
the event, as she was jumpy around loud noises.
“Sleep in heavenly peace,” she whispered,
then listened to her heart beat contentedly
in her own chest cavity before the big bang. [...]

Vanya Nikolaeva’s interview with Nikolaj Nikolov
Translated from Bulgarian by Velina Vateva

I came upon photography three years ago and we quickly became inseparable friends. I even think I am in love. I love photography because through it I can successfully express my thoughts, ideas and conceptions about life and, what is most important, can share them; [...]

Brian Russell

Photo: jesse.millan
Maybe it’s just as well,
she says,
though I don’t really believe her.
The birch are all gone now,
I say,
missing their papery white.

Michael Todd Burns

Photo: jacob botter
Have you ever noticed how people’s philosophies tend to mimic their vices? I didn’t want to think about what I was doing. I didn’t think anymore about God and I certainly wasn’t thinking about the starving children back in Valle Aristo. I wanted to think about Gitana and the way she [...]

Photo: hamedmasoumi
It’s a beautiful day today in Chronotopia. That’s the day when She will put on a gorgeous white dress and meet her Beloved, and they will get married, as they have dreamed for so long. But they won’t be alone in their celebration of love. They will be joined by ten thousand other couples [...]

Photo: jonoakley
There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness. — Friedrich Nietzsche

All you need is love…

Velina Vateva

Photo: Andrew Stawarz
We freely speak of dreams
We marvel at what they conceal
But in my wonderworld
Each sleeping vision is so real
So I believe and hope
That all the things I see
May one day bring
Such truth and peace
As we can feel
Wonderworld, Uriah Heep
The day is here again, as if it has never been gone. Lets take a [...]