BEHIND THE SCENE

by Gordon Gilbert

Acknowledging the good use of A.I. for imagery in New Verse News, 

I will not even try to submit an A.I. image, but simply describe it, 

to accompany my words, which are a parody of the motto of three 

characters in a classic novel:   

Donald Trump's image hovering above a traditional image 

of the Three Musketeers, swords pointed upwards, points touching, 

whose faces are those of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg.  

The title above is "Donald Trump and the Three Musk-eteers.”

The caption underneath is two lines, the first in French, the 2nd, English: 

"Tous pour un, aucun pour tous." 

"All for one, none for all.”

Editor’s note: En garde. We tried.

Gordon Gilbert is a writer living in the west village in NYC, who finds solace in walks along the Hudson River, even while contemplating with trepidation another new year of climate change and political mayhem.  

NUMBERS GAME

by Gifford Savage

Rihanna, Mark Zuckerberg and Ivanka Trump among bevy of stars at Indian billionaire heir’s pre-wedding bash… —CNN, March 4, 2024

Antilia Tower stands 27 stories high,

a $1b phallic tower of Babel.
3 helipads, 168-car garage, and 9 elevators
lifting bling to all-time-low levels of excess.
Cool air soothes in the snow room,
countless artificial snowflakes give sweet relief 
while the heat ripples visible on the streets below.
Rihanna sings, “We Found Love,”
the $100m, 3-day long pre-wedding party swings,
21 chefs conjure up 75 types of dishes for breakfast
225 types for lunch, 85 for a midnight feast.
Money can’t buy you love,
but it means 1,200 guests
don’t have to suffer the same meal twice.
Ivanka, Tendulkar and Bill toast the happy couple,
Priscilla Chan fawns over the groom’s $1m watch
while Zuckerberg agrees, Watches are cool.
In the shadow of the tower
2 million children die every year in India’s slums,
one every 15 seconds,
400,000 before the sun sets on their first day.
Faces turn away,
nursing their bacchanal hangovers,
looking forward to the wedding proper in July.
Rihanna did not sing: “Take Care.”


Gifford Savage’s poems have been published in various journals, including The Storms, The Bangor Literary Journal, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Agape Review, and previously in The New Verse News.