Today, Like Every Other Day

Poets like us, baby, we were born to run.

In the strange quiet that hangs over city streets

in early morning, we hold hands and run across


wrinkled sidewalk, hollering at bakers, leaping over

stacks of newspapers left for sleeping store owners.


The dark runs through us, propels our hands

and feet like the breeze, tossing loose our hair

and drying out our eyes, our bodies dashing blind

over each hill, falling forward into the wind.


Next time, let's run away for good. We can leave

with nothing but necessities, meet beneath

sycamore trees—pick the street and we’ll push


this earth into motion with the soles of our feet.



I'll bring fresh coffee beans, and every morning

will be brighter than the last.

.....Stacey Balkun, from Piscataway, but extending her reach these days

This is a new poem from Stacey, whose coffee addiction continues to manifest itself in her writing.  "Today, Like Every Day" is featured in the current issue of Chantarelle's Notebook, an online poetry magazine. Kendall & Christinia Bell are two innovative members of the NJ poetry community who have been working hard on this e-zine.
Kendall A. Bell is a native of Bergen County, NJ who transplanted to Burlington County in early 2001. His poetry deals with the frustration of everyday life, teetering dangerously on sanity's edge and the hope of better days. His work has appeared in numerous print and online journals, most recently Zygote In My Coffee and Decompression. He was nominated for Sundress Publications' Best of the Net collection in 2007 and 2009. His current chapbook, his eleventh, is called The Forgotten. He is a football and music fanatic and a self-proclaimed curmudgeon 
Christinia Bell is the co-editor of Chantarelle's Notebook. She normally does not write, but does a fair amount of critiquing casually. This is her first editorial position. By day, she is a residential team leader/wrap around coordinator
Let's bring some Valentine's Day love to these supporters of verse, these Jersey editors of enjambment.

See you at the Poetry OutLoud Regional Finals this week at the Two Rivers Theatre in Red Bank.

Keep writing,

Maureen