Tony Dawson

ANOTHER N-WORD

Netanyahu like his best mate Trump
is a businessman with a cruel streak.
He’s currently pushing his new
Mediterranean diet, devised especially
for inhabitants of the Gaza Strip.
Strip for him means strip to the bone
as you can see on the news each day.
Originally, Palestinians were to eat lead.
He’s now elaborating on this idea.
After setting up food distribution hubs
to concentrate his lead-consuming targets,
he’s offering a virtually food-free version
of the Mediterranean diet to make sure
babies and children, in particular, suffer
as they starve to death. If they survive
they’ll be too brain damaged to cause
the mighty Israel any problems in the future
and so thin they’ll all fit into a single block
on the Gaza Strip. The Waldorf Hotel?
No. I think N said it’s called the “Walled Off.”


Tony's YouTube reading of "Another N-Word"


Tony confesses: "Each time I see the news I’m thoroughly sickened by what Netanyahu is doing to the Palestinians in Gaza. Furthermore, it appears that Israel is forever destined to get away literally with murder under its 'antisemitism dome' that is akin to its 'antimissile dome,' a sort of cloak of invisibility that prevents countries that support it from seeing or understanding the crimes it commits every day."

TONY DAWSON, an English writer, has been living in Seville since 1989 and continues to publish widely in the USA, UK and Australia since he took up writing during the pandemic. Many of his poems have been published as three small collections:

Afterthoughts ISBN 9788119 228348, published by Cyberwit.net. First edition: 2023 and reviewed at: https://londongrip.co.uk/2023/06/london-grip-poetry-review-tony-dawson/

Musings ISBN 97819115 819666, published by Impspired. First edition: December 2023 and reviewed at: https://londongrip.co.uk/2023/12/london-grip-poetry-review-tony-dawson-2/

and Reflections in a Dirty Mirror ISBN 9781915819949 also published by Impspired. First Edition: April 2024and reviewed at: https://londongrip.co.uk/2024/04/london-grip-poetry-review-tony-dawson-3/

In addition, he has written a number of pieces of flash fiction, a selection of which appeared in Curiouser and Curiouser ISBN 9788119 654932, published by Cyberwit.net. First edition: 2023.

Charles Rammelkamp

ORANGE LIES MATTER

one of the signs at the protest rally declared.
The man is legendary, spewing falsehoods,
some innocuous, stupid, childish, boastful,
others malicious, dangerous and hurtful.

Remember the one about Haitians
eating other people’s household pets?
How he insisted it was true?
One of the most basic urban legends around,
immigrants eating neighbors’ dogs,
like alligators in the sewer system.
I wonder if he even believed it.

One thing’s for sure:
lots of people did, and those poor Haitians
in Springfield were scared shitless,
righteous MAGA followers ready to kill,
all for the lies of a deranged old man.

A funny Facebook meme –
An interviewer asks Trump,
“What’s your favorite lie?”
Trump answers “I don’t lie.”
The interviewer says:
“Yeah, I love that one, too.”


Charles' YouTube reading of "Orange Lies Matter"


Charles confesses: "Sometimes I think I am over Trump's constant lying - What else is new? Just more background noise. But at others I realize just how dangerous he is and I become enraged all over again."

CHARLES RAMMELKAMP is Prose Editor for BrickHouse Books in Baltimore. His poetry collection, A Magician Among the Spirits, poems about Harry Houdini, is a 2022 Blue Light Press Poetry winner. A collection of poems and flash called See What I Mean? was recently published by Kelsay Books, and another collection of persona poems and dramatic monologues involving burlesque stars, The Trapeze of Your Flesh, was recently published by BlazeVOX Books.

Jerry House

POLITICAL DISCOURSE

She supported Harris.
He voted Trump.
The axe hit his head
With a Thump!
Thump!
Thump!


Jerry's YouTube reading of "Political Discourse":


Jerry confesses: "Politics seems to have become a dangerous ground in America today, but I can't help but believe that people on both sides of the aisle have a common decency. The poem does not reflect that belief but does reflect the divisions that some are eager to exploit."

JERRY HOUSE is either disabled or retired, depending on whom you wish to believe. He lives on the Florida Panhandle where he blogs at Jerry's House of Everything.

Peter M. Gordon

ASYLUM

What if you could only take what fits in your pockets
and one backpack? What will you leave behind?

The framed family photos will remain on walls.
House and car repossessed by banks. Furniture,

flat screens, autographed baseballs, books,
and vinyl records painstakingly collected

over decades, never seen again. Say goodbye
to that room full of craft projects and material.

At least you won’t need to worry about unwashed
dishes or dust on the gilt frame holding Grandma’s

portrait. Sure, upload digital videos of treasures
and poems to the cloud, hope where you end up

has internet. But don’t feel bitter about your life
in America during those days we led the free world.

That way lies madness. Accept you weren’t
brave enough to stay and fight for rule of law.

Remember the fate of ancestors who stayed too long
in Russia, Germany, Armenia, Rwanda, Somalia.

Upload your savings to off-shore accounts
and Swiss banks. Only numbered accounts.

No place is perfect but you can find some where
you can be free. What good are things, anyway,

if you can’t take them with you? Sell what you can
for cash, put silver and gold coins in money belts,

fill backpack with meds, jewels, identity papers,
flash drives, change of underwear, one notebook.

Your most important assets stay with you –
brains, skills, experience. Keep low. Stay alive.


Peter's YouTube reading of "Asylum"


Peter confesses: "An immigration lawyer told me that they’re receiving a record number of calls from people who are thinking about leaving the US. I thought about how hard it must have been for my ancestors to leave their homes to come here. Are there any safe places?"

PETER M. GORDON is an award-winning poet with over 180 poems published in various magazines and websites, He's authored three collections, and his latest is Middle Age Spread, available on amazon.com. Peter founded Orlando Area Poets, and is involved in several other poetry groups. He teaches in Full Sail University's Film Production MFA program.