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Submission Guidelines: Send 1-3 unpublished poems in the body of an email (NO ATTACHMENTS) to nvneditor[at]gmail.com.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.

Saturday, August 31, 2024

WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER

by Steven Kent


“Last week Starbucks made headlines after it was revealed its new CEO, Brian Niccol—who has been described as the “messiah” the ailing coffee company had been searching for—will be commuting to the office via private jet. Niccol, you see, is generously going to abide by the company’s policy of being in the office three days a week. But since he lives in California and the Starbucks HQ is more than 1,000 miles away in Seattle, a corporate jet is really the only way to go.” —Arwa Mahdawi, The Guardian, August 27, 2024



My firm supports the planet's cause;

It's why we switched to paper straws!

Friends, please reduce your CO2

By changing little things you do—

We really have to make a start,

And everyone must play his part.

We'll solve this climate crisis yet,

But now I have to catch my jet.


Steven Kent is the poetic alter ego of writer and musician Kent Burnside. His work appears in 251, Asses of Parnassus, Light Poetry Magazine, Lighten Up Online, New Verse News, The Orchards Poetry Journal, Philosophy Now, Pulsebeat Poetry Journal, The Road Not Taken: A Journal of Formal Poetry, Snakeskin, and Well Read. His collection I Tried (And Other Poems, Too) was published in 2023 by Kelsay Books.