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Today's News . . . Today's Poem
The New Verse News
presents politically progressive poetry on current events and topical issues.
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Wednesday, May 25, 2022
WE LIKE OUR FREEDOM
PINKY PROMISES
by Ann E. Wallace
“Pinky Promise” by Joseph Patton |
Can you see it?
The shredding of precious
organs, of slim muscles and growing
bones, of smiles and baby teeth,
of dimples and pinky promises,
when weapons meant for war
open fire on 40- and 50-pound
children crouching under desks,
hiding behind racks of graded
readers, and huddling
in the pretend play center.
Can you imagine
what damage has been
wreaked when a mother must
recall the neatly pressed
dress or red striped shirt
her third grader selected
for the end of school festivities,
two days before summer break,
when a father must swab
his cheek or offer a vial of blood
to confirm that the shattered
remains held in the morgue
belong to his darling child?
How as a nation
do we bear that another
community has been asked
to be patient, that parents
were again told to not pick up
their kids, not yet, when they heard
the news, so as not to cause chaos—as if
parents’ terror caused this mayhem—
until officials have finished scouring
the brightly colored classrooms
for small victims, until doctors
have saved those they could
and zipped those they could not
into oversized body bags, until
every student has been accounted for,
until nineteen sets of parents
have learned they will never
again pick up their children?
How do we justify
that while the devastated
people of Uvalde have waited
in desperation for their children
to be accounted for,
no one is holding
our leaders accountable?
Ann E. Wallace is a poet and essayist from Jersey City, New Jersey. Her published work can be found at AnnWallacePhD. Follow her on Twitter @annwlace409 or on Instagram @annwallacephd.com.
Tuesday, May 24, 2022
THE AMERICAN IDEAL OF JUSTICE
UVALDE TEXAS MAY 24, 2022
ROE V. WADE—THE PREQUEL, 1972
Monday, May 23, 2022
COWS WHO DIDN'T JUMP OVER THE MOON
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Jason Grostic's cows are tame and relaxed on his small Michigan farm. But after repeatedly testing his farm for PFAS chemicals in biosolids applied to his fields, state officials stopped Grostic from selling any meat or cattle from his farm. Feed grown on his farm is contaminated as well, and he's having to buy feed for the herd he can no longer sell. (DTN photo by Chris Clayton) —Progressive Farmer, May 9, 2022 |
Sunday, May 22, 2022
PRAYERS OF WAR
UKRAINE HAIKU
LET PEACE BE THE MOTHER OF EVERYTHING
Saturday, May 21, 2022
HEART OF THE GALAXY
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The mystery at the heart of the Milky Way has finally been solved. This morning, at simultaneous press conferences around the world, the astronomers of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) revealed the first image of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. It’s not the first picture of a black hole this collaboration has given us—that was the iconic image of M87*, which they revealed on April 10, 2019. But it’s the one they wanted most. Sagittarius A* is our own private supermassive black hole, the still point around which our galaxy revolves. —Scientific American, May 12, 2022. |
Friday, May 20, 2022
I AM THINKING ABOUT AMERICA TODAY
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A counselor attends to a grieving woman outside Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, Calif., site of a "politically-motivated hate incident" shooting which left a prominent doctor dead and another five people injured, on May 15. (Leonard Ortiz/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register/Getty Images) Photo illustrating “A weekend of violence punctuates generations of hate.” —The Washington Post, May 18, 2022 |
Thursday, May 19, 2022
JUST AS THE BIRDS, DISTRACTED
Most nights this week, there will be more birds in the air abovethis country than people in beds down below.” —Josh Sokol