by Joel Savishinsky
A 4.2 magnitude earthquake hit Wauna, a town near Port Orchard, Tuesday afternoon. Shaking was reported in Seattle, Bremerton, Tacoma, Olympia, and Issaquah, among other cities. —MyNorthwest, September 28, 2026
On the neighborhood listserv that afternoon,
someone posted there had just been
a 4.2 earthquake in the region, and
wanted to know if anyone had felt it.
He hit Reply, and wrote that “my girlfriend
and I were in bed at the time, but
that usually a 4.2 in our room is not
considered newsworthy.” Then he shook
off the impulse, hit Delete, deciding instead
to share this with The New Verse News.
Joel Savishinsky shakes himself awake each morning in Seattle. His poetry and political commentary have appeared in Blue Collar Review, Consequence, Dissident Voice, The New Verse News, and The New York Times. He is the author, most recently, of Our Aching Bones, Our Breaking Hearts: Poems on Aging. In 2027, The Poetry Box will publish his collection Bones Beneath the Plow: Poems on Injustice.