CONSIDER THE COMET

by Sally Zakariya

Some night a lucky few of us may spot
a comet poised in the northern sky,
its large body of dust and ice flaring
out behind it, trailing packets of light
we see as green.

They call it Comet C/2022 E3,
a mouthful of a name, and it hasn’t
come by for fifty thousand years,
cruising its elliptical orbit around
the sun in its own good time.

I read somewhere that life is held
together with imprecise words
and inexact thoughts, but
scientists seem pretty precise,
pretty exact, about this comet.

Or maybe it’s just life down here 
on earth that we ponder inexactly, 
imprecisely.

Maybe it’s just our worldly trials 
and tribulations that we approach 
guardedly, side-eyed, warily,
so much this, so little that.

Who can know what’s coming?

Perhaps it’s different for comets.
At any rate, unless its giant orbit 
takes it beyond our solar system, 
we can welcome old C/2022 again
fifty thousand years from now.

Sally Zakariya’s poetry has appeared in some 100 publications and been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Her publications include Something Like a Life, Muslim Wife, The Unknowable Mystery of Other People, Personal Astronomy, and When You Escape. She edited and designed a poetry anthology, Joys of the Table, and blogs at www.butdoesitrhyme.com.  

LOOKING FOR ANSWERS ON CHATGPT

by Ann E. Wallace

Tell me about Tyre Nichols.
 
I don’t have any information
about Tyre Nichols as a person 
or a notable public figure.
 
Can you provide more context 
or details about who Tyre is 
or what you’re looking for?
 
Tell me about Tyre’s life.
 
Skateboarding appeals to young men
for several reasons:
     Independence
     Creativity
     Community
     Adventure
     Freedom
 
Skateboarding provides 
a sense of freedom. 
 
Tell me more.
 
Photographing sights of beauty within the city can be
a creative and rewarding hobby for young men.
 
Here are some reasons why:
     Creative outlet
     Exploration
     Documentary
     Social engagement
     Personal growth
 
Photography can help young men 
develop new perspectives, as they learn 
to see the world through a lens 
and express themselves.
 
Tell me about Tyre’s pain.
 
Crohn’s disease 
is a type of inflammatory bowel 
disease.
 
Symptoms include: 
     Pain
     Rectal bleeding
     Weight loss
     Fatigue.
 
Assault, such as being punched
or kicked, can cause intense physical pain,
further exacerbating these symptoms.
 
Tell me about his heart.
 
Parenting a 4-year can be both rewarding
and challenging. 
     Encourage independence.
     Foster creativity.
     Set boundaries. 
     Encourage physical activity. 
     Promote language development. 
     Use positive reinforcement. 
     Show affection.
     Be patient.
 
To help a 4-year old grieve
     Be honest
     Keep the memory alive
     Take care of yourself
 
To help a mother grieve
    Listen
    Respect her feelings
    Be patient

Tell me.
 
To help a nation heal
    Address the root causes
    Encourage reconciliation
    Foster
    Encourage
    Support
    Address
    Foster
    Encourage action
 
These steps are not exhaustive.
Process your emotions
Seek information
Take action
Stay informed
Practice Self Care.
 
Please tell me something about Tyre.
 
In Memphis, the sunsets in January 
are usually beautiful, 
a stunning display of warm
and vibrant colors.
 
The angle of the sun 
is lower in the sky,
which can result in longer
and more dramatic sunsets 
as the sun takes longer
to dip below the horizon.
 

Author’s note: I composed this poem by curating language from the AI platform ChatGPT's responses to a series of questions (not exclusively those in the poem) about Tyre Nichols. ChapGPT, an incredibly powerful artificial intelligence resource that has been touted as able to handle the most complex challenges, cannot begin to capture who Tyre Nichols was and what his life meant. It fails, just like humans so often do, to measure a life.

Ann E. Wallace is Poet Laureate of Jersey City, NJ, where she is an English Professor at New Jersey City University. Her work has appeared in The New Verse News, Huffington Post, Wordgathering, Gyroscope Review, and many other journals. Her published work is available online at AnnWallacePhD.com and on Instagram @annwallace409.

STREET CRIMES OPERATION TO RESTORE PEACE IN OUR NEIGHBORHOODS (SCORPION)

by John Whitney Steele

The predatory arachnids of the order,

Scorpiones, sit and wait for prey

to move, unknowing, into the ambush zone.

Once the prey has been detected 

they turn, run, and seize it. 

    If the prey

is perceived to be aggressive or active, 

they inject it with their venom.

Otherwise they simply hold and eat it.

The victim’s body parts are broken down,

liquified, and sucked into the scorpion’s 

stomach. 

The victim is gradually reduced

to a ball of indigestible 

material, 

which is cast aside.

John Whitney Steele is a psychologist, yoga teacher, assistant editor of Think: A Journal of Poetry, Fiction and Essays, and graduate of the MFA Poetry Program at Western Colorado University. His chapbook, The Stones Keep Watch, and his full length collection of poetry, Shiva’s Dance were recently published by Kelsay Books. John lives in Boulder, Colorado and enjoys hiking in the mountains.

HOW DO YOU DEFINE AN ENDING?

by Mark Danowsky

“Never-Ending Road” painting by Elizabeth Kenney

After three years, The New York Times announces that close coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic is coming to an end.

What has ended, I wonder,
And what has not?
 
So many with prolonged illness
Know the battle rages on 
 
And those soon to fall ill
And those who will fall ill
 
I count myself 
Among the lucky 
 
Recall my sureness
That I would not survive
 
Of course, few foresee
The deft hand of death 
 
His scythe, at times, the edge
Of visible—a bullet 
 
Stops the heart 
Without just cause
 
The needle droops 
In a useless arm 
 
Tires spin on ice
And metal crushes metal
 
A cloud opens up 
For tears to flood

Mark Danowsky is Editor-in-Chief of ONE ART: a journal of poetry. He is author of the poetry collections As Falls Trees (NightBallet Press), JAWN (Moonstone Press), Violet Flame (tiny wren lit), and Meatless (Plan B Press). Recent poems in Red Ogre Review, Green Ink Review, The Broadkill Review, anti-heroin chic, Harpy Hybrid Review, Otoliths, and elsewhere.

WHAT THE DOOMSDAY CLOCK SAID

by Howie Good

As of January 24, the Doomsday Clock sits at 90 seconds to midnight. Jamie Christiani /   Bulletin of Atomic Scientists

The chemistry set I got for my 10th birthday came with glass test tubes and small bottles of dry chemicals in jewellike colors, plus a booklet with precise instructions on how to rubberize a hardboiled egg. It was the era of the Space Race. The scientist in the white lab coat held the Cold War rank of cultural spokesperson for progress. We were taught in school to worship science, as thousands of years ago a many-eyed beast with a body like a leopard’s and feet like a bear’s was worshipped. The clock declares it’s now nine seconds to midnight. Down in the street, an addled homeless man waves his arms around while remonstrating with a vicious-looking companion only he can see. 

Howie Good's latest poetry book is Swimming in Oblivion: New and Selected Poems from Redhawk Publications. He co-edits the journal UnLost, dedicated to found poetry.

"WORSE" THAN RODNEY KING?

by L. Smith

56 baton blows.
6 neck kicks.
5 white officers.
A broken leg. Multiple facial fractures. Bruises. Contusions. Laser gun burns.
Worse than Rodney King?
If only we could ask Rodney King—
King who was jumped with expert-level lack of restraint and professional lack of protocol by five white officers—Koon, Powell, Wind, Briseno, and Solano—
King who was jumped so well and so wildly, with his body writhing with each raging blow, that all semblance of protect and serve faded to black.
And, 32 years post “the-video-that-changed-everything-and-nothing,”
A new video we watch—we waited to watch, sat on edge for its release while it was advertised and hyped up like it was the big fight—a new
video we watch
to rank and to compare
two police beatings
32 years apart
of motorists. Unarmed black men.
King and Nichols, both jumped initiation style by blue-cloaked vigilantes
and folks are watching and analyzing blows like this is the big match up.
Ranking police beatings? 
Is this the pic-a-nic culture of the not too distant south?
 
Worse than Rodney King?
If only we could ask Rodney King—  
Here’s a thought:
Was disciplinary action against the
5 white officers who beat Rodney King
worse than the disciplinary action against the
5 black officers—Haley, Mills, Martin III, Smith, and Bean—who beat Nichols?
5 black officers swiftly dealt with—
dealt with in a way that’s worse than
5 white officers who beat Rodney King—
5 black officers swiftly fired for excessive use of force,
Failing to intervene and
failing to render aid.
 
32 years ago, we had
5 indictments.
5 acquittals.
3 days of violence.
60 people killed.
Thousands injured.
Millions of dollars of property destroyed.
32 years post “the-video-that-changed-everything-and-nothing” we again have
1 unarmed black man
1 traffic stop
5 officers
1 brutal beating
1 unarmed motorist who was not so lucky.
“Rodney King was lucky.”
Was he really, though?
56 baton blows?
6 neck kicks?
5 white officers?
A broken leg? Multiple facial fractures? Bruises? Contusions? Laser gun burns?
Constitutional rights violated is luck?
Assault times five is luck?
“Rodney King lived.”
Did he though?
32 years apart from each other, are
2 motorists—unarmed, black men
brutally beaten by
5 officers
while traffic-stopped and the world later watched
and ranked and forgot the
five white acquitted officers—Koon, Powell, Wind, Briseno, and Solano—who jumped Rodney King.
Worse than Rodney King?
If only you could focus on the right scales.

Lynette Smith, a New Orleans native, is a writer, multi-certified, English and master reading teacher, who has freelanced for local newspapers. She has an anthology of poems and prose set to publish spring 2023 that her mother and daughter created space for her to write. She also has begun this blog for writer teachers.

MURDER IN MEMPHIS

by Jean Varda

We all felt it when the

men in uniform

tore him from his car,

threw him on the

pavement pressed his

face into the sidewalk.

We all felt it when they

tased and pepper sprayed

him as he ran for his life.

We all felt it when they

punched kicked and

stomped him.

We all heard him when he

called for his mother,

as he felt his life spiral

away from him

and we heard her

heart break.

Jean Varda's poetry has appeared in The New Verse News, California Quarterly, Evening Street Review, Raven's Perch, and Boston Literary Magazine. She recently published an anthology of her poetry titled: Oracle. She resides in Northern California where she leads writing groups and is writing her memoirs.

BINGE-WATCHING

by Daniel Romo

For Tyre

 

 

While viewing the reality show in which contestants

make knives from piles of metal, I think of the latest

 

group of police officers posing as contestants on their

own reality show where they compete by beating and

 

hammering out their victims, not to create an edge

sharp enough to slice through water bottles and sugar

 

cane, but to see which cop can deliver a kill shot of

their own. At the end of round one, the blades are

 

presented to the judges and whoever created the blade

that needs the most correction is eliminated, while in

 

round one, the cop on the scene that shows the most

acts of compassion is gone. In round two, handles are

 

added for grasping and the creator of the knife that

hurts the hand while being wielded is sent home and

 

in round two, the man in blue who tries to grip his

colleague into submission after repeated body blows

 

to the victim is asked not to return to the division.

The final round consists of the forgers returning

 

home to replicate a sword or ax or other weapon used

in battle by an extinct civilization. Upon returning to

 

the stage and after being tested and evaluated to see

who made the most accurate and devastatingly brutal

 

replica, the winner is selected and awarded $10,000,

while the winning police officer is determined by who

 

gets the most media coverage and who abused their

authority in the worst way all while finding the most

 

innocent man to kill.

Daniel Romo's latest book is Bum Knees and Grieving Sunsets (Flowersong Press 2023)

AGAINST THE DAILY NEWS

by Tom Bauer

Who raised these people to use sticks against

their fellow human beings and neighbors?

Who taught the stick to join a team and fight,

to bruise life and chase the lie of honor?

Who made these sticks and guns the tools of men?

Who tells them they have enemies to fight?

Who tells them to hit and kill their neighbors?

Who tells the lies that form the fighting teams?

Who gives them guns and laws to do these things?

Who tells them they can kill people on the streets?

Which of We The People will own their part?

Which leader? Voter? Parent? Teacher? Judge?

The enterslainment of the day? Who will

own that they, that We, have sanctioned these things?

Tom Bauer lives and works in Montreal.

WATCH THE VIDEO

by George Held

Screenshot of the video of the murder of Tyre Nichols.

For Rodney King

 

 

After Memphis, what more can we ask video

to do? After Tyre Nichols, what more

can it confirm? About barbarity,

good ol’ American barbarity? 

The Nazis had nothing on us when it

comes to barbarity. Just look at

the video and see those black men in

uniform dishing out murderous mayhem,

 

killing Tyre as surely as pink-cheeked

SS troopers brutally murdered an old Slav

or a Jew. Yes, these assassins, blond or black,

and legitimized by uniform, carry out

the will of the culture, brutalize the despised

while we, mute, wait to watch the video.

 

George Held occasionally contributes to The NVN and has poems now in Ultimate Reality and Jerry Jazz Magazine.

A GRIM FAIRY TALE

by Lynn White

Dozens of asylum-seeking children have been kidnapped by gangs from a Brighton [UK] hotel run by the Home Office in a pattern apparently being repeated across the south coast, an Observer investigation can reveal. A whistleblower, who works for Home Office contractor Mitie, and child protection sources describe children being abducted off the street outside the hotel and bundled into cars. “Children are literally being picked up from outside the building, disappearing and not being found. They’re being taken from the street by traffickers,” said the source. —The Observer, January 21, 2023 PHOTO: Hove, where unaccompanied asylum-seeking children have been abducted, according to a contractor working for the Home Office. Credit: Andy Hall/The Observer

When I was a child 

my mother told me 

that Never Never Land

Is where the lost children go,

those who can’t find their way home.

My mother told me that

they stay children for ever

and can play all day long.

It sounds like a fairy tale

and perhaps 

that’s where these children have gone,

stepped into a fairy tale

or perhaps

they’ve been taken into one

by a monster

straight out of Grimm.

And now they wait.

And there’ll be others

waiting.

Waiting,

for someone to find them.

Perhaps they’ll put up a sign

hoping someone will see.

And they’ll sit by the sign

waiting for rescue,

waiting for the fairy tale ending

that can never come.

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. She is especially interested in exploring the boundaries of dream, fantasy and reality and writes hoping to find an audience for her musings. She was shortlisted in the Theatre Cloud 'War Poetry for Today' competition and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net and a Rhysling Award. Her poetry has appeared in many publications including Apogee, Firewords, Peach Velvet, Light Journal, and So It Goes. 

ANSWERING THE PHONE WHEN DEATH CALLS

by Jerrice J. Baptiste 

Angry demonstrators have roared through the streets of Haiti’s capital, blocking roads and shooting guns into the air to protest a slew of killings of police officers by Haitian gangs over the last week. Haitian news outlet Le Nouvelliste reported that angry scenes erupted in several neighbourhoods of Port-au-Prince on Thursday, and barricades of burning tyres were erected in the centre of the city.  —Aljazeera, January 26, 2023. Photo: A man gestures by a barricade of flaming tires during a police demonstration in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jan. 26, 2023. Officers were protesting after a gang attack the day before on a police station in Liancourt left several officers dead. —VOA, January 26, 2023

Dedicated to all of my family in Haiti

"I'm going to lose my life," he screams.
Gunshots in rounds, mind on
a roller coaster ride, vibrating bees
disturbed on a hot day in june
except it's january 26, 2023. Bullets

wake up, shake up my eardrum.
Like a conductor gives the cue,
his quaking voice in my ear rises,

his instrument, a steady shriek,
final end to a symphony.
"Everyone's shot around me" he yells.

Feet in flight, heart dodges left right left 
No boulders in city of Port-au-Prince.
"This might be my last day." His voice quakes.

Low hum follows the phone's sudden click. 

Heart drops with conductor's hands.
No hole to hide in the bear's den.

Silence.

Silence.

Author’s note: My uncle Roodly was almost killed yesterday. I wrote this poem about the events that happened in Haiti yesterday.

  

Editor’s note: Roodly Laurore’s poem “Ayiti,” translated from Haitian Kreyòl by Jerrrice J. Baptiste, appeared in The New Verse News, October 13, 2022.

Jerrice J. Baptiste is an author of eight books and a poet in residence at the Prattsville Art Center & Residency in NY.  She is extensively published in journals and magazines. She has been nominated as  Best of The Net by Blue Stem for  2022.

ART OF THE QUESTION

by Dick Altman

Art created by Shutterstock AI image generator in response to "Art of the Question."

Alarmed by A.I. Chatbots, Universities Start Revamping How They Teach: With the rise of the popular new chatbot ChatGPT, colleges are restructuring some courses and taking preventive measures. —The New York Times, January 16, 2023

Disclaimer: ChatGPT inspired

but did not write this poem. And

what if it did?  What, at bottom,

are we afraid of—that a machine

might outthink us? From childhood,

I thrilled to science fiction evolving

into science fact.  Bring on the

machines!

 

If Socrates were alive today,

I can hear him ask, “Why spend life

trying to find answers,

when life’s key may lie

in finding the right questions?”

 

The best leaders, I often think,

posit the best questions.

 

Ask the right question, I’d tell

my peers, and you may find

exactly the answer we’ve all been

probing/struggling for.

 

As AI’s narrative powers grow,

exponentially/computationally,

we need to learn how best

to feed its appetite.

 

Think about your day and mine—

think about the river of questions

that ebb and flow through life’s

continuum.

 

Rarely do we ponder the process

that instinctively—or so it seems—

lets us arrive at decisions that

guide home/work/play/passion.

 

One could argue—and I’d agree—

all conscious life thrives, or fails,

on the quality of its questions.

 

Perhaps we have reached the age

to turn education on its head—

to teach our young "The Art

of the Question". 

 

So that apps like ChatGPT

can learn, in turn, to grind out

answers worthy of our curiosity

and explorations.

 

Think of it as a new educational

dawn.

 

I say let’s welcome, not fear,

the rising binary sun

of a Socratic Age reborn.

 

Or as Hamlet might have

prophetically put it:

 

To ask... 

 

To answer... 

 

That is the question

Dick Altman writes in the high, thin, magical air of Santa Fe, NM, where, at 7,000 feet, reality and imagination often blur. He is published in Santa Fe Literary Review, American Journal of Poetry, riverSedge, Fredericksburg Literary Review, Foliate Oak, Blue Line, THE Magazine, Humana obscura, The Offbeat, Haunted Waters Press, Split Rock Review, The RavensPerch, Beyond Words, The New Verse News, Sky Island Journal, and others here and abroad. A poetry winner of Santa Fe New Mexican’s annual literary competition, he has in progress two collections of some 100 published poems. His work has been selected for the forthcoming first volume of The New Mexico Anthology of Poetry to be published by the New Mexico Museum Press.

OUR QUONDAM COMPANIONS PERSIST

by Jonathan Yungkans

The Human Brain, a painting by Edward Wolverton.

Of my country and of my family I 

have little to say that hasn’t been either
rent or splattered upon. Bone fragments and dots 
of brain create paisley Rorschach patterns in
 
the fabric of my conscience. Let’s allot the 
dappled cotton skein to drape figures gone
more statue than statuesque. Children, how you 
bleed. You shape garnet- and wine-colored mud pies
 
and smear them against your faces and clothes 
to blend with earth, ashes to ashes, bullets
to dust, all the pretty bodies going down.

Author’s note: Title taken from the poem “The Handshake, the Cough, the Kiss” by John Ashbery in the collection A Worldly Country.

Jonathan Yungkans juggles writing and photography with work as an in-home health-care provider, fueled by copious amounts of coffee, while finding time for the occasional deep breath. His second poetry chapbook Beneath a Glazed Shimmer was published by Tebot Bach in 2021.