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Submission Guidelines: Send 1-3 unpublished poems in the body of an email (NO ATTACHMENTS) to nvneditor[at]gmail.com. No simultaneous submissions. Use "Verse News Submission" as the subject line. Send a brief bio. No payment. Authors retain all rights after 1st-time appearance here. Scroll down the right sidebar for the fine print.

Sunday, June 22, 2025

DOWNTOWN L.A.

by Katie Kemple




A woman asks me how 

to find Hope Street. 

I'm not sure, I say. Maybe 

around the corner? The rest 

of the week Hope Street 

startles me. Finds me 

when I least expect it. 

On the walk to the library. 

After dinner with college 

roommates. At the end 

of my volunteer shift. 

The sign towers over me. 

You have to look up to 

see it. The font confident 

we will find our way.  



Katie Kemple is the author of Big Man (Chestnut Review Chapbooks, 2025). Her work has been curated by FrontierPlougharers, and Rattle (Poets Respond).