Guidelines



Submission Guidelines: Send unpublished poems in the body of an email (NO ATTACHMENTS) to nvneditor[at]gmail.com.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.

Saturday, April 15, 2023

THE NEW PANDEMIC

by Ralph Dranow


poster available at amazon


A new pandemic is sweeping the world.
Scientists speculate it started last month
with a six-year-old girl in Indonesia,
a precocious child,
who transmitted it to her parents,
who passed it on to others.
Now it's spreading throughout the country
and other places as well.
The virus surges through the bloodstream,
infiltrating the heart and third eye,
causing people to love one another.
Politicians, CEOs of corporations, and Republicans
are furiously working to contain the virus,
claiming it's bad for business,
suggesting people wear masks and social distance.

But it might be too late.
The virus is very powerful,
seeping through even the strongest mask,
dancing through the bloodstream,
like an ecstatic child.


Ralph Dranow works as an editor, ghostwriter, and writing coach. His poems and articles have been widely published.