BULLY PULPIT

by Mark Danowsky

was not intended to mean 
what any of us think 
but language changes 
& we change with it 
& you know a bully 
when you see one— 
some preaching leviathan 
who offers a shaky 
social contract
insisting life is
not worth living 
unless we have 
a kind of freedom
from each other— 
say six feet 
or the Grand Canyon 
where your views
stop mattering
unless my views
comfortably overlap
which happens
less & less 
in a crumbling Democracy
while the old guard 
hammers home 
the same tired tales
of Middle Class bliss
with fenced neighbors 
who deep down
share our core 
values & beliefs 
which fall flat  
in the face 
value of daily reminders
hammering home
who we care
enough to protect 

Mark Danowsky is Editor-in-Chief of ONE ART: a journal of poetry and Poetry Craft Essays Editor for Cleaver Magazine. He is the author of several short poetry books. His latest poetry collection is Take Care (Moon Tide Press, 2025). He writes and curates Stay Curious on Substack.

BYE, BYE, HOMO SAPIENS… WE HARDLY KNEW YA

by George Salamon

“‘All the cemeteries are full': Palestinians buried in a mass grave in Gaza.” —Reuters, November 22, 2023

"Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind." —John Donne, Meditation 17, 1623

On the pile of rubble

the wailing of a mother

means nothing.

On the broken street

the raised fist of a father,

nothing.

The weeping of entire

populations on both sides,

nothing.

The killing of the air,

the end of our oceans,

nothing

In times of exhaustion

and nihilism, values

have vanished and we

are turning into machines,

surviving to function, not

to live.

George Salamon thinks the lords of Silicon Valley have,  million clicks after millions of more clicks, succeeded into turning most of our minds and hearts into file clerks and bean counters.

CHANNELING CASSANDRA

by George Salamon

The Daily Tar Heel, August 30, 2023

All values are fleeing,

there's no home for

them in a world run 

by power and money.

Only one principle

remains to which we

owe loyalty, the cry

for help, screamed

or whispered.

If we give aid, arrival

of our downfall may be

delayed.

George Salamon channels Cassandra only once in a while; doing it too often would be too depressing.

SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY

by Buff Whitman-Bradley

It is good to know

That in these troubled and confusing times

When old values are under attack,

When what we hold dear 

Is mocked and undermined

By those who have no respect

For the venerable ideals, 

The policies and practices,

Of American democracy

That have stood this nation in good stead

Through trial and tribulation,

Through unrest and upheaval,

Through multiple wars

And challenges to our hegemony,

It is good to know 

That those finely-crafted

Highly developed techniques

Of civil and social discipline

As American as, oh, 

Genocide, slavery, lynching,

Suppression of dissent,

That those undeniably effective,

Satisfying,

And invaluable means

Of exercising our rightful authority

Are still in use at our southern border

Where inconsiderate people 

Eager to avail themselves of the advantages

Of this God-favored land

Are being whipped and beaten

To teach them a lesson

About the distribution of privilege

In our world,

About who are the deserving 

And who the undeserving,

About how we deal with those

Seeking to take advantage

Of our famous kindness

And get a free pass to enter

Our sweet land of liberty.

Buff Whitman-Bradley’s poems have appeared in numerous print and online journals.  His most recent book is At the Driveway Guitar Sale: Poems on Aging, Memory, Mortality, from Main Street Rag Publishers.  He podcasts poems on aging at thirdactpoems.podbean.com and lives with his wife, Cynthia, in northern California.