Poetry

Seven forbidden words

I am vulnerable

I am entitlement

I am diversity

I am transgender

I was a fetus

I am evidence-based

I am science-based

 

You are vulnerable

You are entitlement

You are diversity

You are transgender

You were a fetus

You are evidence-based

You are science-based

 

We are vulnerable

We are entitlement

We are diversity

We are transgender

We were fetuses

We are evidence-based

We are science-based

 

Have you heard? President Ubu’s administration has prohibited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from using seven words and phrases in their 2018 budget requests.

The forbidden words are “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “diversity,” “transgender,” “fetus,” “evidence-based” and “science-based.”

You can read the full story in The Washington Post here.

“Commercial I Wrote” published in Mad Swirl

madswirl-commercial

Today, online poetry blog Mad Swirl published my poem “Commercial I Wrote.” This one beats up on advertising. Commercial propaganda is always an easy target. You can check it out here.

Since this is the third poem they published from me, it looks like I earned my own author page on the site. The link above will get you there.

Poems in Indiana Voice Journal and Your One Phone Call

Indiana-voice-2-poems

atlantic sound-ivj

Two journals released some of my poems today. Indiana Voice Journal published “Atlantic Sound” and “Come Another Sun.” You can read them here.

Your One Phone Call published “Ouija on the Rag,” of of a growing series of pieces revolving around the character Ouija. You can read this one here.

phone call-ouija rag

“Swimmers on 20th Street” and 4 other poems in Empty Mirror

swimmers-empty mirror

Empty Mirror is a great online literary journal that features reviews and articles on Beat literature along with contemporary textual and visual poetry. Today, the magazine published five of my poems: “Swimmers on 20th Street,” “Travel to Cashback,” “Le Coup,” “Prisoners of More,” and “Soup de Jour (Election Year).” You can read them here.

A few notes on these. “Le Coup” is loosely based on the documentary film Man on Wire, about Philippe Petit’s successful covert operation to connect a tightrope wire between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and then walk across it. Although “Soup de Jour” was written years before the current president was even a candidate, it seemed pertinent enough that I posted it to the 100 Thousand Poets Resistance Poetry wall. On that blog, it was formatted without the spacing. This is its first public appearance with line indents as intended.

“128 Words for Lies” in Clockwise Cat

128words-clockwisecat

The “Klox and Katz Ink” issue of Clockwise Cat, number 38, was released sometime last week. I just learned it was available on Yumpu. A freewheeling literary magazine featuring leftist rants, pictures of street art murals, and a big poetry selection, Clockwise Cat #38 also includes my poem “128 Words for Lies” spread across pages 65-66. You can read the issue here.

Clockwise Cat #38

Flashback: One poem in Shattered Wig Review

img_1954That time I (finally) got a poem published in Baltimore’s Shattered Wig Review, a journal based out of Normal’s Bookstore (at the time), landing in Issue #17. “Folie a Deux” was one of my best pieces, IMHO. The whole issue is over the top with collages, pieces by Blaster Al Ackerman (fiction and art, plus photos of the man himself!), Batworth, Mok Hosfeld, John Bennett, and editor Rupert Wondolowski, as well as “Pretty Beaver” cartoons by my friends Mary Knott and Beppi, among lots of other wild stuff. No date on the rag, but this was definitely circa 1996.

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