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Tuesday, October 29, 2024

GARBAGE

by William Aarnes

AI-generated graphic by Shutterstock for The New Verse News.


             persona sin valor
I like to imagine
a Puerto Rican mother

who, despite herself, caught
one of those rolls

of paper towel
tossed into the crowd

with utter contempt.
She’s kept it, the plastic

wrapper still intact,
atop her refrigerator,

a trophy to remind her
what the word useless—

inútil—means.
Some day, she hopes—

ella espera!—
she’ll feel free

to ball it up,
hoja tras hoja sucia,

and light a fire
to celebrate—

por finpor fin!—
the tosser’s loss.


William Aarnes lives in Manhattan.