Wind overpowers most trees after
the storm’s first hour, and a meltdown
of levees and dikes breaches the wall
protecting our town. No street
is spared floodwaters as the town braces
against total destruction. We hope for
desperately needed help, for more
compassion, but we face only chaos.
Source: After Meltdown, Wall Street Braces for More Chaos
(Golden shovel poem based on New York Times headlines)
Heed my words. There is no choice a
Voter can make that isn’t political.
Protect your home and your family
Before the dangerous one rises
And attacks our land again.
Source: A Political Family Rises Again
When I was a child I wanted a bed
To sail me off to fairy land. My bath
Was the ocean, linked by a heavy chain
To the bed. My dreams rose in clouds to
Shake the heavens, They do not start
To tell a scary story until there’s a process
That relaxes my mind into summers of
Magnolias and gauze dresses. The door’s closing
Leaves me in the dark, afraid to shop.
Source: Bed Bath Chain to Start Process of Closing Shop
After the hearing officer makes her ruling,
We return singing to our tent homes on
The open plain. Our sweaters pill
After washing. Our mother puts
Them in a trunk. Is it prudence
To hold ourselves together above
Simplicity, or a nasty grab for power?
Source Ruling on Pill Puts Prudence Above Power
The room shaped like a pentagon
Holds secrets that cannot leak.
So many glowing secrets began
Their life in a universe earlier
Than stars were born, earlier than
Light was born, earlier than any thought.
Source: Pentagon Leak Began Earlier Than Thought
Golden gladiolas glimmer at a social
Gala, gifting gladness through the media.
Carnelian carnations cower as
Clouds convey the conscience we
Avoid. Ruby roses riot when they knew
Revolution readied the world. For it
Can’t escape the gardener that she is
Hostage to wind, sun, rain, all long
Needed, yet climate emergency gone.
Source: Social Media as We Knew It Is Long Gone
She has given up on the network’s
Offering anything but a deal
That benefits them and avoids
Royalties to her. They’ll say it’s a
Work for hire. She will fight
For the royalty contract, but
Expects their lawyers will not
Come around without leaving scars.
Source: Network’s Deal Avoids a Fight, but Not Scars
What is wrong with the old man
Who shoots on sight a teen who
Only rang the doorbell? He was shot
For ringing the wrong doorbell, a teen
Sent to pick up his little brother on
A play date. The teen stood on the porch
And lucky he isn’t dead. His face is the faces
Of all Black boys living with imagined charges.
Source: Man Who Shot Teen on Porch Faces Charges
We are hoping to find the fox
Tonight. Reports on the news
Yesterday exclaimed it goes
Running down Fifth Avenue on
Trippy paws. It cannot go on trial
For eating park pigeons or for
Claiming its attacks are falsities.
Source: Fox News Goes on Trial for Falsities
There was no warning of leaked
Oil at the factory. Company intel
Hinted that records were altered.
Workers said safety was of little
Concern to supervisors. Workers in
The field studied organizing strategies.
Source: Leaked Intel Altered Little in Strategies
There will be a revolt, I suspect,
by young people seeking justice in
this world. Old racist tactics are like leaks
in a canoe. The old system faces
its young people and can imagine only two
choices, win or lose. Youth charges
ahead, knowing it’s in the right over
the long run, with or without documents.
Source: Suspect in Leaks Faces 2 Charges Over Documents
We had tickets for two
In the balcony of the new
Arena. We despaired at rulings
That meant we wouldn’t hear Muddy
Water tonight. Muddy Waters
Sang of real life, hard as it might be, over
Dreams. Did he ever sing of abortion?
Source: Two New Rulings Muddy Waters Over Abortion
Some support legal abortion, while some
Oppose all abortion. Support outweighs opposition in
Polls, even among Republicans. The G.O.P.
Seems in thrall to extremists, who urge
A national ban. Will there be flexibility
Among Republicans to compromise with
Base and center, or only most extreme position on abortion?
Source: Some in G.O.P. Urge Flexibility with Abortion
The stolen stash contains dozens of bitcoin.
They shimmer in their coats of hydrogen that devours
Air. The thieves lack the energy
To keep bitcoin alive and
The thieves slowly suffocate in dead air. Others
Will find their bodies and pay
For a death notice. Bitcoin vanish into a
Space where they exist beyond price.
Source: Bitcoin Devours Energy, and Others Pay a Price
Trees inch roots through a
Sticky clay, sandy loam, forcing disclosure
Of their invasion plans. Now in cahoots with
Raccoons who march through grainy fallout
Of polluted pollen and tawdry mist in
A parade that distracts from the real
Attack on ignorant humans, just in time.
Source: A Disclosure with Fallout in Real Time
His online presence is named A.I.
He supplies no religion or race
Or country of origin. He leads
His followers into dreams of tech
Riches, assuring they’ll become giants
In the future. Meanwhile, he offers to take
Control of all followers’ assets, no ethics
Warning allowed, and far too many risks.
Source: A.I. Race Leads Tech Giants to Take Ethics Risks
She knocks on the door of the Middletown IRS,
not sure what she will find. A glittery ball rolls
past her left foot. Did it roll out
of that small hole in the door? She reconsiders the plan
she had been given by Inside Robotic Stories, to
visit the office in this small town, revise
the administrative code to siphon the tax
geared to the mayor and add it to the IRS collection.
Source: IRS Rolls Out Plan to Revise Tax Collection
Who are the readers
Who left libraries with torn
Books and pages folded in origami cranes by
Children? Why did they push
For open doors all night to
Dance, to sing, to paint, to revise
Badly written stories, but not classics?
Readers demand the right for
Conversation with writers. It’s a modern
Dialogue that includes all sensibilities.
Source: Readers Torn by Push to Revise Classics for Modern Sensibilities
this case. I didn’t know there was a case
that had my fingerprints. What of
my lawyer? Why did she say I falsified
those documents? She knows nothing of the records
I keep in my private desk. I was only exploring
some business possibilities, what the
pundits call innovation. These paths
are new. Who knows where they’ll go, to
riches for all, riches for me, surely not a felony.
Source: In a Case of Falsified Records, Exploring the Paths to a Felony
When I heard of his death
From a rare illness and
Many complications, it was murky
How it happened. Where the justice
In losing this young man on
His birthday, far from his Arizona
Home, away from his peaceful ranch.
Source: Death and Murky Justice on Arizona Ranch
