FUTILITY AND NEED

by Steve Bowman

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

I don’t have the courage of my friends

to post in protest of this tyrannical regime.

All day every day they’re writing

trump this trump that

all over social media. I tell myself

what’s the point?

A random post here and there

won’t change anything

it’s just a waste of time.

 

Truth is I’m scared.

Of who will respond.

Of not knowing enough to argue.

Of being shamed into silence again.

Of losing.

 

Maybe winning isn’t the point.

Maybe getting up the nerve is enough.

To say what’s wrong is wrong.

To show it’s possible to tell the truth.

To help others find their voice.

To speak with hope.

Steve Bowman’s work has appeared in multiple publications, including Last Leaves, Keeping the Flame Alive, Poets in the Pines, Mocking Owl Roost, Purple Aardvark, and Heart of Flesh. When not writing, Steve seeks inspiration with his little dog, Grummle, in the hills and leaves of Southern Indiana.

GOVERNMENT 101

by Marsha Owens

This thing called impeachment is a strictly political process I learned when I was 17, this thing is like a hurricane you hope doesn’t happen like you hope every elected official remembers Gov’t 101 too, and remembers that this thing exists like posts supporting the pier buffeted by waves and winds, worn with footsteps from end to end, decade after decade, a sanctuary where you go to feel sunshine, to hear birdsong, to throw out a fishing line, to sit, to dream, to contemplate Ethics 101,

to pray the posts never fail. 

Marsha Owens is a retired educator who lives and writes in Richmond VA. Her poems and essays have appeared at TheNewVerse.News, Huffington Post, TheWildWord, Rat’s Ass Review, and Streetlight Magazine. She is a co-editor of the recently released poetry anthology Lingering in the Margins.

CYBER LIPS

by Susan Vespoli

            (after Lucille Clifton)


....................../´¯/)
....................,/¯../
.................../..../
............./´¯/'...'/´¯¯`·¸
........../'/.../..../......./¨¯\
........('(...´...´.... ¯~/'...')
.........\.................'...../
..........''...\.......... _.·´
............\..............(
..............\.............\...

watch out for online lips.
they need no face
to move around on.
they speak in virtual blips
from keyboard
cell phone screens
they tweet and twitter
spit. those lips

are chicken clicks
they snap their words like whips
flip posts like middle finger.


Susan Vespoli lives mainly in Phoenix, but sometimes in Prescott, with her partner and dogs. She is a teacher, poet, and born-again-bicyclist.