Guidelines



Submission Guidelines: Send 1-3 unpublished poems in the body of an email (NO ATTACHMENTS) to nvneditor[at]gmail.com.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

Thursday, October 09, 2025

THE POET PROVOKED

by Roberta Batorsky




These verses searchlight wrongs,
thrust into the light
all injustice lurking in the shadows.

Stanzas pry loose prison bars,
insights scorch wrong-doers,
violators of decency

No place for you to hide as
my couplets cauterize you.
These devices are unsparing
instruments of revenge.

Haikus hunt you
Elegies eviscerate
Ballads batter 
And meter mauls you.

My lyrics bear the sting 
of sincerity,
passing merciless
judgment in rhyme.

 

This poet for hire.



Roberta Batorsky, a New Jersey poet, has published this month her first book of poetry, Perihelion.