The New Verse News
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The New Verse News presents politically progressive poetry on current events and topical issues.
The New Verse News
13h ago
by Lynn White
Source: The Guardian
When will we count the dead in Gaza?
Those buried in named graves we know,
all the tens of thousands of them,
those buried in the rubble,
the disappeared
with no one left to name them,
are still unknown
uncounted.
Then the other Disappeared,
prisoners of war
if it were a war,
but with only the rights
of terrorists
who have no rights at all
in this unequal conflict
that some call ‘war’.
And how can we count the injured in Gaza
when there are no hospitals left
and its people don’t count
so no one can count those numbers.
and perhaps ..read more
The New Verse News
2d ago
by Adele Evershed
In the quiet of a collective breath-holding / Ladies Night / accidentally played on the radio / so an Israeli spokesman / delivered words / about exacting a price from Iran / to the throb of a disco beat
I listened to the ballistic bass / and retorting trumpets / cut with words of war / as if this was a movie / the music an ironic middle finger / to the inevitability / of the end of the world / and it seemed like another sign / in a week of medieval omen
After / the BBC made no mention of their mistake / Johnnie Walker just played the song / so we could all ..read more
The New Verse News
4d ago
by Susan Vespoli
My dead son was in the car
with me as I drove to the lawyer’s
office to pick up my net-settlement check
and we drove past a laughing-Buddha chihuahua
running against traffic down the center of Dunlap
and we drove through a split of mountain crags
and we drove past a guy twirling and tossing a red-arrow
sign at an intersection and my heart and gut felt on fire
with raw grief and I said, “Well, here we are, Adam,”
meaning the end of the lawsuit
and even as I wanted to sob and flail
I could feel him smiling beside me ..read more
The New Verse News
5d ago
by Cindy Veach
I watch three old white men on the news talking
about abortion how it’s no big deal for a woman
to get a bus ticket and travel to another state.
It’s trending on X, these old men in their suits and ties
with their limp cocks tucked away under the table
their small hands gesturing or resting on the table.
I’m hemorrhaging rage, thick red as postpartum blood.
And now Arizona has upheld a draconian Civil War-era
abortion law proving that the past does come back
to haunt. I almost bled out after my daughter’s birth.
I’ve never written about this. It took a helico ..read more
The New Verse News
6d ago
by Bonnie Naradzay
A man detained by the Israeli military in northern Gaza shows injuries on his wrists at al-Najjar hospital in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on 24 December 2023 (AFP/Said Khatib)
Israeli doctor says detained Palestinians are undergoing ‘routine’ amputations for handcuff injuries. —CNN, April 6, 2024
On my listserve, someone posts her fears
that the pairs of eclipse glasses she ordered
will not arrive in time. A neighbor shares a link
from NASA on how to make a pinhole camera.
In the news, I read about Palestinians detained
outside an Israeli ..read more
The New Verse News
1w ago
by Steven Kent
"'You have imprisoned our democracy': Inside Republicans' domination of Tennessee"
—The Guardian, April 5, 2024
Despite what y'all were taught in school,
Democracy is not that cool;
We merely use it as a tool
To institute one-party rule.
Folks come to Nashville, see our sights,
While up the hill we're locked in fights*
With Tennesseans claiming rights
They don't deserve now, by our lights.
Theocracy's the goal we've set,
And though we haven't reached it yet
The hour is coming, never fret.
Can't happen here? You wanna bet?
*The state capitol sits four bl ..read more
The New Verse News
1w ago
by Jerrice J. Baptiste
Haitian policemen stand guard on a street corner amid gang violence in Port-au-Prince on April 8,2024.
Last week, my colleagues and I facilitated healing circles for Haitians, both on the island and in the diaspora. In this virtual gathering, known as the Sawubona Healing Circle, we bore witness to the fullness and depth of our pain across different geographical locations. We held space for the fear experienced by those trapped in Port-au-Prince amidst paramilitary violence. We acknowledged the hurt felt by innocent people yearning for communal s ..read more
The New Verse News
1w ago
by Corley Norman
It is near twilight and the man next door is mowing his yard.
I am fighting my impulse to go over there, pull him away and shout
What are you doing? No one mows at night!
It defies all common sense! Stop right now!
I would catch him off-guard, unnerve him with my unneighborly outburst.
I wouldn’t be mad enough to shoot him or anything. I don't own a gun.
But I'm pretty sure I wouldn't shoot him even if I did own a gun.
I suddenly realize he might own a gun and enjoy shooting.
What is on my mind is that today many mothers were crying
As they held signs ..read more
The New Verse News
1w ago
by Mary Turzillo
The Sun and the Moon
did a courtship dance
did a contrary dance
nearer come nearer
far dance away
till the Sun mocked his luna love
japing “cold, changeable she”
and “you love the earth more than me”
and it’s true: she grew fat, she grew thin,
he was hot, she was cold
Apollo, Diana:
stag and the doe
till she danced right in front of him
close to him, over him
taking delicious gold bites of him
throwing her skirts quite over him
till she blotted him out
til the night crickets sang
the the birds went to sleep
a black handkerchief over the land.
She punched a ..read more
The New Verse News
1w ago
by Bill Meissner
Though we don’t know exactly why,
we travel from afar just to see it.
We’ll journey a hundred miles. A thousand. Ten
thousand or more. For some reason we don’t understand,
we want to turn our heads
toward the sun and see it slowly disappear, the same way
our hunched Neanderthal ancestors did, when they noticed
a sudden strange moment of night just outside the mouth of the cave.
But we are modern, and civilized. We drive SUVs to Texas or Maine,
find the exact location with our GPS.
In case of a traffic jam, we pack the car with
rations and nece ..read more