BLIZZARD OF OZ ‘23

by Scott C. Kaestner

Frostbitten existential mood swings

my fingers can’t feel my toes

numb 

        frozen

try to twist, try to wiggle free

nothing. My mind is a mine field

explosive blue diamond 

in snow drift icicle sky

and damn it gets so cold

when an angry sun scorches

everything in sight. The world is

upside down, reason I know

do you hear the shit coming out

of peoples mouths? The aliens

no doubt are bored with us and

have moved onto planets with

                intelligent

                                 life

something religion and politics

and 24 hour news cycles

eliminated from Earth

quite some

         time 

                ago

so here I am, here we are

freezer burnt waiting for the end

or a new beginning or at least

some warm socks to apocalypse in.

Scott C. Kaestner is a Los Angeles poet, writer, dad, husband, and an invisible man in plain sight. Google “Scott Kaestner Poetry” to peruse his musings and maybe even buy a book.

GUARDS AT THE BORDER

by Wendy Hoffman

A Mexican court issued arrest orders Thursday for six people in relation to the fire that killed 39 migrants at a detention facility this week in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, according to the federal prosecutor leading the investigation. Sara Irene Herrerías said they include three officials from the National Immigration Institute, two private security guards contracted by the agency and the detained migrant accused of starting the fire. She said five of the six had already been arrested and would face charges of homicide and causing injuries. At least 39 migrants died after apparently starting a fire inside a holding cell at the facility Monday night. More than two dozen others were injured. —AP, March 31, 2023

Keys dangled from belts

shone on nearby hooks

jangled next to coins in their pockets

Guards turned away, heads bent

as if in prayer, slithering into escape

escape for themselves, their moist

skin, escape from screaming mattresses

horrified lives who stepped upon

this land of freedom to meet souls

that judged who deserved to die

and those with burnt alive 

consciences

Wendy Hoffman has published three memoirs: The Enslaved Queen, White Witch in a Black Robe, and A Brain of My Own. The Enslaved Queen has been translated and published in Germany (Asanger-Verlag, 2021). Her book of poetry Forceps was published along with a book of essays From the Trenches written with Dr. Alison Miller. Her fourth memoir After Amnesia is published on the SmartNews and Survivorship websites. It also has been translated into German. Her poetry book Belonging is forthcoming from Kelsay Books.