by Susan Vespoli During a March 6 Phoenix city council meeting, family members of people killed by the city’s police department demanded that local officials stop interfering with a federal probe. The Department of Justice (DOJ) launched an investigation into the city of Phoenix and the Phoenix Police Department in 2021, citing concerns over the department’s use of deadly force and other potential civil rights violations. —The Appeal, March 14, 2024 The Phoenix City Council voted Wednesday to spend up to $4 million on legal services for representing the city amidst the ongoing U.S. Depa ..read more

by Ángel de Saavedra, the 3rd Duke of Rivas (Spain, 1792–1865) translation by Julie Steiner Op-Comic: “The dangerous job of running with the former president” by Ward Sutton Rarely crack a book—or don’t at all— and keep your grasp of law at newbie level. Be cocky. Without limit, lie and grovel and get your callow self to the capital.  Persuade some rag to host the views you scrawl; become an ocean of extremist cavil, and hone your way with words, which few can rival, in coffeehouse or jingos’ meeting hall. Get on the city council first, then slide into the legislature, to ..read more

by Cecil Morris When hobbyist photographer Michael Sanchez snapped this picture of a blue rock-thrush subspecies on the coast of northern Oregon last week, he didn't know how rare the bird was until he posted it to social media: a blue rock-thrush, far from its native breeding habitat in parts of Europe, Africa and Asia. —NPR, May 3, 2024 The blue rock-thrush, bewildered, finds itself on an Oregon beach blown thousands of miles east from its Asian land, its native air, the green greens of home, the known, familiar browns, the sunset skies. Here the seagulls speak an angry f ..read more

by L. Lois the chill in the air means the glacier ravines running down the peaks jutting above the treeline to the north are vertical cuts of white this bench sits low comfortably leaning back with the lake at my feet the surface broken by the gentle rippling of the wind   a lone eagle circles on early spring's thermal winds and the cherry blossoms I passed on my way are holding fast in the lingering crispness distant blue skies are lighter overhead coloring is calm painted solid for peacefulness rounded white clouds perch as if to tell the mountains where they should be ducks sca ..read more

by Sally Zakariya This floor tile imported from Turkey and installed during a home renovation contains what is believed to be a cross section of an ancient human jawbone. (Courtesy of Reddit user Kidipadeli75 via The Washington Post) Check the counters and floors check all the travertine tiles Look for signs of the old ones reaching up through time    slivers of bone       shards of teeth Imagine the beginning: a natural hot spring somewhere in Turkey Layer after layer of plants and animals trapped in the mud and fossilized Mammoths, rhinos, giraffes ..read more

a New Verse News erasure poem found  in a Raab Collection email document featuring signatures  of primary signers and leaders  in Arab-Israeli peace acquired  from one of the  participants on exhibit  and for sale at $35,000 ..read more

by Pamela Wax The ants  are marching  single  file, their annual  exodus across  faux-granite  counters, up  and down door jambs, through  the sea of scraps  in my stainless steel sink. I’ve  been told to kill  them, a stew  of sugar and boric  acid. A sweet,  merciful death. But I can’t.  Not this year. Especially not this year. May all who are hungry  come. Eat. Pamela Wax is the author of Walking the Labyrinth(Main Street Rag, 2022) and Starter Mothers (Finishing Line Press, 2023). Her poe ..read more

by Steven Kent "Conservatives condemn Kristi Noem for 'twisted' admission of killing dog" —The Guardian, April 27, 2024 Within the MAGA GOP It's possible, apparently, To cross a line. (Who knew? Not me.) Now Kristi Noem, VP-to-be, Is suddenly a falling star. They'll tolerate mere bigotry, Caucasian male supremacy, Repealing rights, dishonesty, Assaults on our democracy, But shoot your dog? A bridge too far! Steven Kent is the poetic alter ego of writer and musician Kent Burnside. His work appears in 251, Asses of Parnassus, Light, Lighten Up Online, The New Ve ..read more

by LynnWhite Never again the holocaust of Jews, of Slavs,  of dissenters, of the mixed  or mismatched ethnicity. Gassed starved  beaten enslaved dying. Never again the swarms of refugees  left behind fleeing dying pleading  to be let in anywhere dying unwanted. Never again. That’s what they said then. But then in Gaza it happened  again. And now in Gaza it’s happening  again. Again and again and again. Lynn White lives in north Wales. Her work is influenced by issues of social justice and events, places and people she has known or imagined. S ..read more

by Tricia Knoll I wore a peace symbol bandana on my arm when I received a professional degree  from the Yale graduate school in 1970.  I marched with candles in California, put my butt down in an administrator’s office at Stanford. I did not know then the extent of my privilege.    We walked. We assembled, chanted simple words to a drumbeat. We saw villages destroyed, lives ripped from ancestral homes. Some of our parents agreed with what we were doing, but not all. Not mine. Despite the deaths, the endlessness of destruction, hopelessness, despair.    I be ..read more