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Tuesday, September 08, 2020

NO NEWS

by Paul Hostovsky




There was no news today,
said the anchor
on the 6 o’clock news,
laying her pen down quietly,
removing her audio feed,
smiling a truly beautiful
sad smile, then gracefully getting up
and walking off the set.
And although the people
were still dying all around,
still killing each other off
all over the world, the world
itself still dying, our leaders still
leading us over its proverbial edge—
though greed was still
masquerading as good,
and though love was still
greater than fear—even though fear
was still mostly winning out—
all of a sudden, today none of it
was news. Because it was
all the same as yesterday.
And yesterday was the same
as the other yesterdays.
Which somehow, incredibly,
was news today. The news
was that there was no news.
This was big news. Genuine news.


Paul Hostovsky's newest book Deaf & Blind is forthcoming from Main Street Rag.