by Penelope Moffet

 

 

 

I refused to watch the State of the Union,

unwilling to give two hours of my life

to so much bloviation and lies. Usually

I think it’s wise to know my enemy but

I know this one too well. Instead

I called a friend, spent half an hour

catching up and laughing, then read and

watched an hour of  Seaside Hotel,

Season Six, 1938, Danish refuge with

its mix of guests and servants,

persistence of decorum and dignity

as, still out of focus, fascism draws near.

Penelope Moffet is a poet and nonfiction writer based in Los Angeles. She is the author of the chapbooks Cauldron of Hisses (Arroyo Seco Press, 2022), It Isn’t That They Mean to Kill You (Arroyo Seco Press, 2018) and Keeping Still (Dorland Mountain Arts, 1995). Her poems appear in many journals, including Calyx, Eclectica, ONE ART and Vox Populi. A full-length collection of her poetry will be published by Sheila-Na-Gig Editions this Fall. 

THE BEST KITCHEN

by Matthew Murrey

has stains on the backsplash,

a bag of chips on the counter, 
a beer can from the night before, 
a toaster with one slot that works,
a light switch lightly smudged,
one plant too big for the sill,
a cabinet door that will not close,
a fruit bowl with a bruised banana,

a compost bin a bit too full,

chairs hung with coats and shirts,
half a bottle of Spanish wine, 
a clock on the wall running slow, 
a clock-radio shining red time,
a charger for your phone and mine,
a stove with two black iron pans,
a wall with photos and faded cards,
a couple of mismatched coffee cups,
a table with worn veneer where 
no one’s ever sat with diamonds
shining on a cross or shown  
such straight and stainless teeth 
in a smile so forced and white.

Matthew Murrey is the author of Bulletproof (Jacar Press, 2019) and the forthcoming collection, Little Joy (Cornerstone Press, 2026). Recent poems can be found in Roanoke Review, ballast, HAD, and elsewhere. He was a school librarian for 21 years, and lives in Urbana, IL with his partner. He can be found on Twitter, Instagram and Bluesky under the handle @mytwords.

STATE OF THE UNION

by David Rosier

Cartoon by David Fitzsimmons

All shapes, all shades, all sense,
This winter day, lost in fog
In our deceived, defiled land
Still stolen by a demagogue.


David Rosier is a poet and author who lives in the small arts community of Spring City, Utah.  He is also a musician.

MEN WITH NO LIPS

by Tricia Knoll

I’ve learned to be afraid of them.
Someone is going to tell a lie.
Go after the drug peddlers, ignore
drug companies pumping opiods.
Refurbish Hotel Guantanamo
with used mattresses from high-rise hotels.
Breathe deep of clean, clean coal.
Pretend the sick get health care
or that your dreams are equal
to those of people without a country.
I'm never afraid to kneel
and know its rightness.

White guys who smile by folding
their lips in, straight lines across the face
to hide  the aging of the down curves
but not to show teeth. Some public relations
gimmick to refrain from being read as wolf,
predator, out to get you. Smuggy. Smirky.
Someone is telling a lie.  I’ve known frogs
I trusted more.


Tricia Knoll is an Oregon poet who once heard of an art installation by Robbie Conal called "Men With No Lips." So here we are in the news of the State of the Union. Men without lips.

"Men With No Lips" by Robbie Conal

"Can't Even" by Robbie Conal

THRESHOLD

by Paul Smith

Cartoon by Taylor Jones

There is a paradox
that goes like this:
a real good liar is so good
he is never caught
so he gets known as
an honest man
an honest man, though, may
become desperate and lie
once or twice
a greenhorn at deception
he gets labelled a liar
but there are limits, sir
the threshold is
five lies a day
two thousand lies in one year
once you cross that line
you are out of the vestibule
of deceit
and into the parlor, the banquet hall
then all of us are on to you
you stick out like a sore thumb
we have your number
we
the second sex
the fifth estate
the one they call
the seventh son
we all
know your sum

and it is zero


Paul Smith lives near Chicago. He writes fiction & poetry. He likes Hemingway, really likes Bukowski, the Rolling Stones, Beatles, Kinks and Slim Harpo. He can play James Jamerson's bass solo for 'Home Cookin' by Junior Walker & the Allstars.

TO JOE BIDEN AND BEYOND

by Ed Plunkett

I want to go to the Moon with you, Joe Biden
The adventures we would have with Wall-E, Doctor Who,
Joy from Inside Out and the Abominable Snowman will be incredible
We’d quickly cure cancer, the mission President Obama sent you on
Get that out of the way
Then the party would start
Space 2016 will be a blast off
John Glenn will drive our Moon Rover
Matt Damon will engineer it so we can shoot off into space!
Stephen Hawking can make sure the steering works
We’d find new comets and name them after your favorite
amusement park rides
Because you’re Joe Biden, in space!
Decked out in our matching flight suits and aviator sunglasses
we will rule the galaxies
So badass we’ll run laps around both Voyagers
Plant the American flag on the moons of Neptune
Make you King of interstellar space
Because you, Joe Biden
Are the true Emperor of the universe
and all undiscovered countries
You and I will leave trails of smoke bombs and firecrackers
on asteroids
Send spam emails to alien tribal leaders
Giggle like children as Neil Degrasse Tyson
puts potatoes in the exhaust pipes of Tie Fighters
For science!
Please make us all find our lost youth,
Mr. Lame Duck Vice President
Allow me to take your picture
flipping off the First Order with impunity as we
Do donuts with gravitational pull
Joe Biden, it will be an honor to ride shotgun, with you


Ed Plunkett is from Columbus, Ohio. He has represented his city at the Individual World Poetry Slam and was Chairman of the Word is Art Committee of the Columbus Arts Festival. He has published the chapbook Nobody’s Poet, the CD I'm Not From Here and has been published in the journal The Legendary, The New Verse News, The Uppagus, the anthology Buzzkill: Apocalypse and Columbus 614 Magazine. One of Ed’s life goals is to read in all of Ohio's 88 counties. He has a long way to go

STATE OF THE UNION

by Mark Danowsky

Image source: pundit from another planet

Today, I have heard from innumerable sources
the way it is. I can’t tell you everything
was useful or important or even-
handed or fact checked.
Nonetheless—
I have handpicked many of the voices
who daily inform my worldview.
If it is a narrow view, well
I have myself
to fault.
Without time for primary sources
on which second tier channels
must we depend upon?
Certainly nothing
scripted.
We know from binge watching
Genius is a product of one.
Schizophrenia results
when a congress
hodgepodges.

Mark Danowsky’s poetry has appeared in Alba: A Journal of Short Poetry, Mobius: The Journal of Social Change, Red River Review, Right Hand Pointing, Snow Monkey and The New Verse News.  His poem "5am Summer Storm" won Imitation Fruit’s “Animals and Their Humans” Contest, in 2013. He resides in Northwest Philadelphia and works for a private detective agency.