AMERICAN BEEF

by Darrell Petska

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

In the coming months, when you bite down on a government-subsidized burger made with meat of questionable origin, you’ll have Glorious Leader Donald J. Trump to thank. On Aug. 21, the president who loves to call other people communists enraged American cattle ranchers by announcing plans to “allow up to 300,000 metric tons of product for ground beef to be imported with no out of quota tariff. We have a commitment that this beef will be sold at 25 percent below current market prices.” Trump posted news of the deal on social media, but of course gave no specific details about who the deal is with, where the meat is coming from or why he’s suddenly admitting that waiving tariffs will, in fact, lower prices for consumers. It’s a turducken of hypocrisy. —Rex Huppke, USA Today, August 23, 2026

I sing burgers
made of American beef,
not of “mystery meat”
imported from Botswana or Brazil,
Namibia or the moon’s dark side.

I sing American cows
raised by hard-working ranchers
living just down the road.
Their methods and products
I can see and trust—

unlike Trump’s dubious meat
bound to depress prices paid
to American cattle growers
needing incentives to rebuild
drought-ravaged herds.

A Trump burger? No way.
There aren’t enough condiments
to mask the foul taste
of midterm connivery
tucked clumsily into a bun.

Darrell Petska grew up on a cattle farm bordering the Nebraska Sandhills, where ranching is a revered but increasingly threatened way of life. Prairie winds still strum his heartstrings, though he now lives and writes poetry in Wisconsin.

ROWING NORSE

by Craig Crowden

The Cup is ours for the taking.

Our lads are bent on brand building as

we row into the hearts of the world

heading for our colony of Vinland.

Our lads are bent on brand building as

we sail from a Fiord clad in Viking garb.

Heading for our colony of Vinland,

we score iconic team photos.

We sail from a Fiord clad in Viking garb

striking fear into football defenses,

we score iconic team goals

charming even those we sack.

Striking fear into football defenses,

we show Brazil a beautiful game

charming even those we sack,

turning vanquished foes into fans.

We showed Brazil a beautiful game.

We gave England all it could take

turning victorious foes into fans

Off we row home to a parade.

We gave England all it could take

leaving with class and respect.

Off we row home to a parade

while cleverly conquering Instagram.

Leaving with class and respect,

we row into the hearts of the world

while cleverly conquering Instagram.

The Cup is ours for the taking!

*

We row back home to

one hundred-fifty thousand

Norse fans—triumphant!

Hidden in Haaland’s raccoon

lies the heart of the World Cup.

Craig Cowden: As a Norwegian and a fan of the beautiful game, I was very excited when Norway made the World Cup field. Then they put on a master class in marketing starting with an extraordinary photo shoot from a Fjord in Norway. They backed this up with outstanding play reaching the quarterfinals earning respect across the world. They did it with class and lots of fun. I am very proud to be Norwegian.   

HELL

by Clyde Always

Eight measly months remain until
the climate summit’s here.
So, highway builders of Brazil,
we’ve got a path to clear!
 
Go raze that swath of jungle there!
Knock down that açai!
How deeply, for the Earth, we care
the summiteers shall see.
 
We’ll labor on it, night and day—
our dying world be saved!
This road will be, it’s safe to say,
with good intentions paved.

Clyde Always is an accomplished cartoonist, poet, painter, novelist and entertainer. His writings and/or illustrations have been featured in Light Poetry Magazine, Freaky, Jokes Review, etc.  Visitors to Bay City are invited to enjoy his carnavalesque sidewalk show: a tall tale extravaganza known as the Surreal San Francisco Walking Tour.

BLOOD SPORT

by Geoffrey Philp

Sebastiao Brito de Mendonca walks in a dry area of an affluent of Rio Negro river, as the region is hit by a severe drought, in Santa Helena do Ingles community in Iranduba, Brazil October 13. REUTERS/Bruno Kelly

The forest might be recovering from one drought and then get hit by another while it’s still recovering,” said Chris as we sail down the Rio Negro, the scent of burnt-out mahoganies clinging to our shirts while caracaras screeched overhead.

 

he hangs up his gloves—

 

We pass barges on the shoreline, tipped on their sides, like pink dolphins trapped in the silt.

 

the next punch could be the one

 

“If that happens, it can take even longer to get back to normal, and eventually it reaches a point where it can’t get back to normality.”

 

he couldn't answer.

Geoffrey Philp, a Silver Musgrave Medal recipient, is the author of Archipelagos, a book of poems about climate change which was long-listed for the Laurel Prize. Philp’s poem, “A Prayer for My Children,” is featured on The Poetry Rail—an homage to 12 writers who shaped Miami's culture. He  lives in Miami and is working on a children's book Marsha and the Mangroves.

THEY GROW AN AWFUL LOT OF AWFUL IN BRAZIL

by Steven Kent

"'We will not surrender': Bolsonaro militants demand coup as Lula prepares to take power.” —The Guardian, December 22, 2022

Law and order, we demand.

   A military coup

Will go (we hope!) the way we planned,

   Since Bolsonaro's through.

Ironic? Sure, but that's our way;

   The Left will not enjoy it

When Right makes might makes right. We say,

   To save Brazil, destroy it!

Steven Kent is the poetic alter ego of writer, musician, and Oxford comma enthusiast Kent Burnside. His work appears in Light, Lighten Up Online, Snakeskin, and OEDILF, among others.

DIASPORA FOOTBALL

by Indran Amirthanayagam

It was a difficult day at the Qatar World Cup. Our American ambassadors, 

Argentina and Brazil, both with attacking teams who strike as lightning 

and sit back as well controlling the ball, dribbling it back and forth, 

 

wearing the patience down of their European opponents—had leads 

vanish with minutes to go, the European powers striking back, 

and in the case of Croatia pulling off the upset, mighty Brazil losing 

 

on penalties. But Argentina survived. Shot its penalties with clinical 

power, and their goalkeeper used his brain to anticipate the directions 

of the Dutch kicks. I am writing this to remember a Friday in December 

 

when honor lay on the field, and glory, and also bitter defeat. This is 

the field of battle, the football field, the field of dreams, the field of 

identities, how if our country loses we shift then to its natural neighbor, 

 

overcoming regional rivalries in the name of a greater continental unity. 

Imagine how Moroccans feel now as they represent their country and all 

of Africa and all migrants too, as many have grown up away from 

 

their kingdom, in exile, when they strap on their boots to play Portugal 

in the next quarterfinal? My documenting pen will dress with them. 

The diaspora team, my friend calls not only Morocco but France, 

 

England and many others. Football is the identity card, 

the passport. Borders are fluid, 2022 composed of a motley crew 

of border crossers, migrant wonders, football envoys.

Indran Amirthanayagam is the translator of Origami: Selected Poems of Manuel Ulacia (Dialogos Books). Ten Thousand Steps Against the Tyrant (BroadstoneBooks) is the newest collection of Indran's own poems. Recently published is Blue Window (Ventana Azul), translated by Jennifer Rathbun.(Dialogos Books). In 2020, Indran produced a “world" record by publishing three new poetry books written in three languages: The Migrant States (Hanging Loose Press, New York), Sur l'île nostalgique (L’Harmattan, Paris) and Lírica a tiempo (Mesa Redonda, Lima). He writes in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Haitian Creole and has twenty poetry books as well as a music album Rankont Dout. He edits The Beltway Poetry Quarterly and helps curate Ablucionistas. He won the Paterson Prize and received fellowships from The Foundation for the Contemporary Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, US/Mexico Fund For Culture, and the MacDowell Colony. He hosts the Poetry Channel on YouTube and publishes poetry books with Sara Cahill Marron at Beltway Editions.

LULA WINS!

by Indran Amirthanayagam

We have a chance

 

to reduce the burning and looting of the Amazon.

 

We have a chance

 

to support green technologies in one of the world's ten largest economies.

 

We have a chance

 

that the poor, the left out and the abused will have a champion again in the Alvorada Palace.

 

We have a chance

 

that a reasonable, negotiating left-of-center government will join hands with its neighbors and work towards climate justice and advancing human rights worldwide.

 

We have a chance

Indran Amirthanayagam is the translator of Origami: Selected Poems of Manuel Ulacia (Dialogos Books). Ten Thousand Steps Against the Tyrant (BroadstoneBooks) is the newest collection of Indran's own poems. Recently published is Blue Window (Ventana Azul), translated by Jennifer Rathbun.(Dialogos Books). In 2020, Indran produced a “world" record by publishing three new poetry books written in three languages: The Migrant States (Hanging Loose Press, New York), Sur l'île nostalgique (L’Harmattan, Paris) and Lírica a tiempo (Mesa Redonda, Lima). He writes in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Haitian Creole and has twenty poetry books as well as a music album Rankont Dout. He edits The Beltway Poetry Quarterly and helps curate Ablucionistas. He won the Paterson Prize and received fellowships from The Foundation for the Contemporary Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, US/Mexico Fund For Culture, and the MacDowell Colony. He hosts the Poetry Channel on YouTube and publishes poetry books with Sara Cahill Marron at Beltway Editions.

 

FIRST ROUND, BRAZIL

by Indran Amirthanayagam

The former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, speaking after election results were announced on Sunday. Mr. da Silva and President Jair Bolsonaro will face each other in a runoff later this month. Photo Credit: Victor Moriyama for The New York Times

Credit...Victor Moriyama for The New York Times

It's a long night with strong emotion,
the whole world is listening to the results,
and after seventy percent counted
Lula finally has a slight advantage.
I am tranquil now, the world quiet. 
It's like the dice game between 
the Pandavas and the Kauravas, 
or between Putin and the allies,
 
or it's just an election. We must 
not let our fears get out. We 
will see tomorrow. Let's go 
to work for the Amazon 
 
rainforest, for humble workers 
who appreciate the labor of 
one of their own. Lula, my 
brother, even though I live 
 
far from Brazil, today and 
always, I join the community 
of the left, of human and animal 
rights, of plant, forest and land 
 
rights. of rights that are going
with you to the Alvorada Palace.

***

É uma longa noite com uma emoção forte,

todo o mundo está escutando os resultados
e depois de setenta por cento contado
Lula tem finalmente uma leve vantagem.
 
Estou tranquilo agora. O mundo 
é tranquilo. É como o jogo de dados 
entre os Pandavas e os Kauravas, 
o entre Putin e os aliados,
 
o é uma simples eleição. Não 
devemos deixar que os medos saiam. 
Veremos amanhã. Vamos 
a trabalhar para a Mata Amazonas, 
 
para os trabalhadores humildes 
que apreciam o labor dum deles, 
Lula, meu irmão. Ainda 
que moro longe da Brasil
 
hoje e sempre me uno 
a comunidade da esquerda, 
dos direitos humanos e animais, 
de direitos de plantas e de floresta, 
 
de direitos da terra, de direitos 
que vão com você ao Palácio da Alvorada.

Indran Amirthanayagam's newest book is Ten Thousand Steps Against the Tyrant (BroadstoneBooks). Recently published is Blue Window (Ventana Azul), translated by Jennifer Rathbun.(Dialogos Books). In 2020, Indran produced a “world" record by publishing three new poetry books written in three languages: The Migrant States (Hanging Loose Press, New York), Sur l'île nostalgique (L’Harmattan, Paris) and Lírica a tiempo (Mesa Redonda, Lima). He writes in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Haitian Creole and has twenty poetry books as well as a music album Rankont Dout. He edits The Beltway Poetry Quarterly and helps curate Ablucionistas. He won the Paterson Prize and received fellowships from The Foundation for the Contemporary Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, US/Mexico Fund For Culture, and the MacDowell Colony. He hosts the Poetry Channel on YouTube and publishes poetry books with Sara Cahill Marron at Beltway Editions.

THE MAN OF THE HOLE

by Joanne DeSimone Reynolds

The Man of the Hole was the last of an indigenous group living in the Tanaru indigenous area in the state of Rondônia, Brazil, which borders Bolivia. The majority of his tribe are believed to have been killed as early as the 1970s by ranchers wanting to expand their land. In 1995, six of the remaining members of his tribe were killed in an attack by illegal miners, making him the sole survivor. Brazil's Indigenous Affairs Agency (Funai) only became aware of his survival in 1996, and had been monitoring the area ever since for his own safety. It was during a routine patrol that Funai agent Altair José Algayer found the man's body covered in macaw feathers in a hammock outside one of his straw huts. Indigenous expert Marcelo dos Santos told local media that he thought the man had placed the feathers on himself, knowing that he was about to die. —BBC News, August 30, 2022

O! Sole man –

60ish   50ish

Thatched huts

Holed – 3ish by

10ish foot deep –

4 (or 2?) footed traps

Spiked   Did you

Hide?   Hold up?

Did you know?   O!

Macawed Carnival

Romancer –  

Web-womber –

Eons lost   You –

One with the Whole

Joanne DeSimone Reynolds has published poems in The New Verse News, Salamander, The Ekphrastic Review, Sanctuary Magazine, Ibbetson Street, Wilderness House Literary Review, Lyrical Somerville, and other journals. She has also written reviews for Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene. During the first spring of the pandemic she wrote a collection of ekphrastic poems for 2020 Art Ramble in Concord, Massachusetts.

IT'S NOT OVER TILL IT'S OVER

by Katherine West

In Brazil 600,000 are dead.  The Brazilian jazz band, Farofa, says nothing of this.  They are too immersed in the blessing of music, too busy following and blending genres, traditions, grooves.  They play a Brazilified Tears for Fears song, appropriately, "Everybody Wants to Rule the World."  What happens when there is no world to rule?  Is politics a board game, continuing in heaven?  Do politicians believe they're even going to heaven after selling the planet down the river for a portfolio in their great-grandfather's coal company?  

The violin player is from L.A.  That's where the band met, of course.  He dances as he plays, dances as if he were born in Rio.  The bass player is a comic book character.  If peanuts had a bass player, he would be it.  His big head, with even bigger hair, wobbles without any help from the body whatsoever, like one of those plastic dime store toys I grew up with.  At one point he does a 1970s funk solo.  I close my eyes.  Try to enter the naiveté of Watergate. 

For just one second I've got it:  bell bottoms, afros and ideals, Muddy Waters playing in Peace Park my first year at Mizzou, streaking across the quad to protest the war.  An abstract concept for most of us.  I had never seen anyone with the after-effects of agent orange.  Never seen a metal leg.  Never met anyone with PTSD.

Blindly, I wanted to do the right thing.  I wanted to leave the world a better place for having birthed me, for having said yes to my orphan soul.  

The funk solo ended.  The 70s vanished, leaving nothing behind but that stubborn soul, tossing aside the boring board games to come up to bat one last time, to suss out the pitcher, to grand slam around the bases, run like hell, and hope to reach home before the ump calls me out. 

Katherine West lives in Southwest New Mexico, near Silver City. She hs written three collections of poetry: The Bone Train, Scimitar Dreams, and Riddle, as well as one novel, Lion Tamer.  Her poetry has appeared in journals such as Writing in a Woman's Voice, Lalitamba, Bombay Gin, The New Verse News, Tanka Journal, Splash!, Eucalypt, and Southwest Word Fiesta. The New Verse News nominated her poem "And Then the Sky" for a Pushcart Prize in 2019. In addition she has had poetry appear as part of art exhibitions at the Light Art Space gallery in Silver City, New Mexico and at the Windsor Museum in Windsor, Colorado. Using the name Kit West, Katherine's new novel, When Night Comes, A Christmas Carol Revisited came out in 2020, and a selection of poetry entitled Raising the Sparks will come out in 2021, both published by Breaking Rules Publishing for whom she also teaches Creative Writing workshops.  The sequel to When Night Comes will also be released by BRP in 2021. It is called Slave, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Revisited. She is also an artist. 

A DEADLY BEAUTY

by Geoffrey Philp

 

    

When the MV Express Pearl, carrying twenty-five

tons of nitric acid and seventy-eight tons of plastic

pellets, lurched into the port of Colombo, sailors

 

released carbon dioxide into the hold to put out a fire

that had been smoldering for two weeks. But it was too late.

The ship keeled from an explosion of the acid and hurled

 

the plastic pellets into the air, which descended on the yellow

sands of Sri Lanka in a flutter of plastic snow that glittered

at sunrise, like the stone Devair Alves Ferreira bought

 

from two junkyard scavengers. Intrigued by the blue

light, Devair shaved granules from the stone and shared

the poison of cesium 137 with his family and friends

 

in Goiânia until his wife’s hair fell out in clumps

on the bathroom floor. And while the Brazilian police

arrested the men responsible for the theft of a radioactive

 

canister from an abandoned cancer lab, competing

adjusters shift blame to India and Qatar, which denied

entry to their harbors because they “didn’t want

 

the problem in their backyard.” But tell that to the soldier

scraping debris from the backs of crabs, and who fears

the pellets will raise the temperature of the sand in nesting

 

grounds of turtles, and a generation of single-sex hatchlings

will crawl into the sea. Or tell that to fishermen who can no longer

feed their families as the ship sinks and the ocean burns.

Geoffrey Philp is the author of five books of poetry, two novels, two collections of short stories, and three children's books. His poems and short stories have been published in The Oxford Book of Caribbean Verse, sx salon, World Literature Today, The Johannesburg Review of Books, The Oxford Book of Caribbean Short Stories, Bearden's Odyssey Poets Respond to the Art of Romare Bearden, Rattle: Poets Respond, and Crab Orchard Review. A recipient of the Luminary Award from the Consulate of Jamaica (2015) and a former chair for the 2019 OCM Bocas Prize for Poetry, Philp's work is featured on The Poetry Rail at The Betsy—an homage to 12 writers that shaped Miami culture. He is currently working on a graphic novel for children, My Name is Marcus. Twitter: @GeoffreyPhilp / Instagram: @geoffreyphilp

CO'VID-AS'

by L.A. Pontes

An anti-government demonstrator wearing a protective face mask holds a poster representing a coffin of a victim of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) with the message "30,000 deaths, so what?", during a protest named "Amazonas for Democracy" in Manaus, Brazil, June 2, 2020. © REUTERS/Bruno Kelly via France 24, June 2, 2020

The face of the infamous man is painted in black with red dripping fangs on the tall walls of the house on the corner.
"Fora Bolsonaro!" with the colors of the rainbow.
As the pans bang in every window—the ‘panelaco’ hour—the little girl fights with the dogs for bones tossed on the empty streets. The dogs are dying alone.
Her dark skin shows ghostly on orange lights.
She wears no mask, her face is empty.
The "little flue" had made a ghost out of her stoned mother and enemies out of friends. Mother stands tall in her grave.
Manoela climbs the tree on the corner and chews the splintered bone. She wished she had fangs like the monster.

L.A. Pontes is a Brazilian writer living with his wife and six dogs on the bushy outskirts near the city of Belo Horizonte. His writing has appeared in LITRO UK. He shares with all conscious Brazilian citizens a deep disgust with the government of Jair Bolsonaro.