by Kim Malinowski
| The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) on Friday a voted to advance a notice of proposed rulemaking that would defang Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), one of the few laws that requires the federal government to consult with Tribal Nations before approving federally funded or permitted projects. New rules proposed by the ACHP would make Tribal consultation and public participation largely optional, and would drastically limit the law’s scope to historic properties that are geographically compact, excluding rivers, mountains and other Traditional Cultural Landscapes that are core to the history and identity of many Indigenous people. The proposed changes require further review and a 30-day public comment period before becoming final. —Earthjustice, July 27, 2026 |
Beat the drums of war.
They stole history at sunset,
went against their rules,
against their own Federal law,
voted against protecting
cultural heritage—fancy way of saying
knowledge of our past.
Beat the drums of war, even those who do not understand
Section 106. Because loves,
not many of us study this law into our marrow.
I might be one of the last.
It didn’t stand in the way of progress. It protected it.
Sacred sites were gone around, archeology was done before
the neighbor’s pool was dug in the historic district.
The dead were found before they were uncovered.
Beat the drums of war for me.
For the tribal leaders that can write a public note
but not be consulted sovereign nation to sovereign nation.
Cemeteries and homesteads,
historical buildings and archeological sites endangered,
all for “progress” that could still progress
just with careful documentation.
All those places George Washington stayed at aren’t safe.
A strip mall might be more useful than a mansion.
But that’s what Section 106 was for.
It wasn't perfect, but we sought
collaboration, review,
public comments, outreach,
that now forbidden knowledge.
Beat the drums of war my friends.
Not just for the archeologists and historians,
but for your history.
Bloody and messy truth.
I don’t want massacres paved over in books or in soil.
My trowel begins at sunrise.
My pen at midnight.
Beat the drums of war.
Today, we fight for our history.
Kim Malinowski is a lover of history and words. She is the author of six poetry collections and is currently earning her Master's Degree in Cultural Heritage Resource Management (Archeology).
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| “Allegory” (1948) by Ben Shahn (Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, TX) |
What will he paint to make the terror stop?
This red kettle bell ringer whose blotted, stuttered
lines contoured a lifetime for social justice.
In this circuit of fatelines, it is those whose lines
of flight crossed an administration’s line
into cruelty. To make detention so bad
they’ll want to deport. So it’s not a formal
visit because they don’t know who he is
and artists are damned liars anyway.
Will his palimpsest of thrashing marks show
what’s behind locked doors and spirals
of barbed wire? Tiny holding cells
with insects crawling, scant food, water,
medical care or contact with family or lawyers,
sewage bubbling up from shower drains, cold
nights that some wear socks on their arms,
other nights some in suicide surrender. With
currency of pictorial language, will he paint
another raging, demonic chimera with flaming
mane, refusing to suckle its children, leaving
their lifelesss bodies beneath its udder
in a heap of time-tested allegory?
Rikki Santer’s poetry collection, Resurrection Letter was grand prize short-listed for the Eric Hoffer Book Award and Shepherd’s Hour, won the Paul Nemser Book Prize from Lily Poetry Review Books. In 2023, she was named Ohio Poet of the Year and currently serves as Artist-in-Residence at the Fran Ryan Center in Columbus, Ohio and a member of the teaching artist roster of the Ohio Arts Council. Her fifteenth poetry collection, Could Be, was published this spring by Sheila-Na-Gig Press.
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AI-generated graphic by NightCafé for The New Verse News. |
by Karen Warinsky
Bees are in trouble, this we know
but in Oregon no bees died
of pesticide in five years
and somewhere a teen rescued an elder
wandering in 103-degree heat,
a firefighter saved three kids from drowning
on the Fourth of July
an African coral reef has returned to life,
the same life a tiny girl wants to give
to her big sister
by donating her bone marrow,
while a doctor repaired a man’s hands
through brain surgery,
as scientists discovered a frog bacteria
that can wipe out cancer tumors
and that magic mushrooms
sometimes bring back memories from dementia,
and all the while people pay their bills
donate to the homeless, to food banks,
to hurting people in war zones
and they return money, jewelry and wallets
found in cabs, on the beach,
take out ads and post it till someone calls
take no reward,
Paul and Ringo call each other
every week
and sugar has been found in the Milky Way.
Remember there is good news
and never give up, never quit
feed your mind,
look for sugar in the stars.
Best of the Net nominee and award-winning poet Karen Warinsky is the author of four collections including Dining with War (Alien Buddha Press), and Beauty & Ashes (Kelsay Books). A former finalist of the Montreal International Poetry Contest, Warinsky has published widely in lit mags and anthologies including Blue Heron, Consilience, Silkworm, Wordpeace, Circumference, The Naugatuck River Review, and The New Verse News.
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AI-generated graphic by NightCafé for The New Verse News. |
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A Scottish pro-Palestine activist is facing charges for “threatening and abusive behaviour” after reading a poem about children killed by Israel. Bill Williamson, 74, said he had been at a weekly Palestine vigil outside Dunoon Burgh Hall on July 4 when he was approached by a pair of police officers while he was reading out “Don’t Mention The Children” by the Jewish writer Michael Rosen through a megaphone. —The National (Scotland), July 19, 2026
Poets are dangerous.
Naming the dead
leads to arrest.
The killing
of some,
by some
is fine,
unlike
the threatening
nature
of reading a poem.
And the unmentionables,
the nameless
children,
must suffer silently.
Poets are ‘The Brave’
in Scotland today.
Poetry is dangerous.
Lynn White lives in north Wales. Her work is influenced by issues of social justice and events, places and people she has known or imagined. She is especially interested in exploring the boundaries of dream, fantasy and reality and writes hoping to find an audience for her musings. She was shortlisted in the Theatre Cloud 'War Poetry for Today' competition and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net and a Rhysling Award. Her poetry has appeared in many publications including: Apogee, Firewords, Peach Velvet, Light Journal, and So It Goes.
The Epstein files reveal how
the very rich relate entirely
to each other. They live
in hermetic opulence.
Epstein was not only pimp
but connector. He gave
the rich and powerful what
they wanted, forbidden
sex, a sense of always
being in control, someone
they wanted to hang out
with: the connector.
We’re way beneath their
gaze, their understanding
any more than we know
intricacies of ant life.
Too small for us to notice,
we step on them casually
as we go on our way, just
as the rich do to us.
Marge Piercy is the author of twenty one poetry collections and seventeen novels, including Woman at the Edge of Time and SEX WARS. A lifelong feminist, socialist, and anti-war activist, her writing has been exploring labor, environmental justice, and the struggle for a more equitable world over the last five decades.
