GARBAGE

by William Aarnes

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

             persona sin valor

I like to imagine

a Puerto Rican mother

who, despite herself, caught

one of those rolls

of paper towel

tossed into the crowd

with utter contempt.

She’s kept it, the plastic

wrapper still intact,

atop her refrigerator,

a trophy to remind her

what the word useless—

inútil—means.

Some day, she hopes—

ella espera!—

she’ll feel free

to ball it up,

hoja tras hoja sucia,

and light a fire

to celebrate—

por fin! por fin!—

the tosser’s loss.

William Aarnes lives in Manhattan.

COMPASSION IN CHIEF

by Tricia Knoll





We lost heartfelt
in the mocking
of disabilities.

We lost empathy
with one toss of paper towels
to the devastated.

We lost all trust.
what test is beautiful
for the virus of fear?

We lost a tender voice
with respect
for the dying,

for the worry of sickness
for those of us
targeted in our chests.

We lost our trust
in the beautiful test
for the virus of fear.

We hear the echo
of amazing grace notes
in a by-gone tenor

that true Compassion in Chief.





Tricia Knoll remembers the singing of "Amazing Grace" by our last President while this one seems to think the scare of corona virus events is mostly financial.