Anonymous

THE HIGH COST OF SAVINGS

The Department of Government Efficiency
calls it streamlining,
cutting fat from the bone—
but the marrow ran the systems.

Now the portal stalls,
error messages
pile up like heavy winter snow.

Cut the fraud team,
fire the inspectors who root out fraud, waste, and abuse,
cancel phone appointments,
close offices, change rules—
then gasp as the flood waters rise.

All in the name of savings—
but send the bill
to those who wait for sustenance payments,
who lose their homes
because a keystroke
no one was left to type
never happened.

The president flies
to his own resorts—
security swarming, motorcades humming—
calls it official,
charges it to the people.
Green fees as policy.
Hundreds of millions
sunk into his own sand traps.

Let’s call a watchdog a dog,
rename it the Office of Government Inefficiency—
barks and bites,
sniffing around,
pissing on the real work.

DOGI tears the fat from the bone,
cracks it open to suck out the marrow,
until nothing is left
but billionaire tax cuts
paid for by supporting fools
sinking in the sand traps.


YouTube reading of "The High Cost of Savings"


Anonymous confesses: "As a civil servant who has survived a few decades of shifts from one administration to another, no other has been as recklessly destructive as this one. And DOGE was on the front lines. In their supposed efforts to root out fraud, waste and abuse, they fired the Inspector Generals and entire departments dedicated to enhancing efficiencies. Past administrations have done questionable things. This one has been downright criminal."

The author is a federal worker who has been a civil servant for more than 30 years and who wishes to remain ANONYMOUS due to the way the current administration is treating federal workers who criticize or speak out about their actions.

Angela McClintock

GIVE AND TAKE

The night they shot my friend the cop,
I counseled a suicidal kid
Informing him of options open.

He, too, had a gun cocked
Pointing at his head
His previous cries for help
Unheard.

We negotiated ruthlessly
He with pain
Me with compromise
Finally, he agreed
To try tomorrow.

And as the kid attempted life,
My friend fought death
Tooth and nail,
but lost.


Angela's YouTube reading of "Give and Take"


Angela confesses: "At the time the poem was written, I was a counselor in a runaway shelter working with adolescents. I dealt with all of the childhood abuse and neglect issues and the suicidal ideations that come with suffering. I had a dear friend, a police officer who was killed in the line of duty trying to protect a battered woman the same timeframe I had been working with a suicidal youth. The juxtaposition of the two events haunted me. Thus, the poem."

“I’ve always been a storyteller, to the delight of my siblings and the chagrin of my parents." ANGELA McCLINTOCK, a licensed clinical social worker certified in trauma, spent the last three decades working with children and families in crisis. Writing has always been her creative escape.

Her first published novel, The Boy in the Basement, won first prize in the Bookfest 2024 for psychological thrillers. Grave Justice (book two in the Jennifer Riley series) was released in April 2025.

Angela lives in Birmingham, AL, with her two spoiled corgis, Loki and Odin.

Gary D. Rhodes

COLD DISH

Upwards,
downwards,
the shovel
shovels.

Depths rise,
higher and higher.

Earth
unearthed.

Splintered coffin,
splintered mind.

Dirt, grime
on two.

Only one
stands.

In my fingers,
I collect him.


Gary's YouTube reading of "Cold Dish"


Gary confesses: "'Cold Dish' takes its name from the old saying about revenge being a dish best served at a cooler temperature. It reminds me of an old Irish saying, 'long runs the fox,' or Southern Gothic stories where one person takes their revenge decades later. The poem also speaks about grave desecration, a key taboo, and yet one that as a people we are willing to violate if enough time passes, whether that means opening an Egyptian tomb or plumbing the ocean depths to the Titanic."

GARY D. RHODES, a professor of Media Production, is the writer-director of a number of commercially-released documentaries, as well as the author of twenty nonfiction books on film history and the horror genre. His work has been favorably reviewed in The Hollywood Reporter, USA Today, Sight & Sound, Cineaste, Turner Classic Movies, and the E! Channel. His first novel, Offed, published in 2017, received accolades in The Huffington Post.

Peter Gregg Slater

BREAKING NEWS

Not again? Yes, again!
Some psycho shot up
Carson Tool and Die
way out on the pike.

Worked there
the Xing classes say
for a day, a week,
a month, a year, a decade.

Listen to this!
Some psycho lost it
shot up the Carson plant,
been on that hilltop forever,
wounding two, killing five.

Almost always a man
rarely a woman.
We all know why.

Have you heard?
Some psycho exploded
on the night shift at Carson’s,
the carnage splashing the news—
for 24 hours.

We wait and wait now
for the next crackup out of the blue,
raging bloody.
Will happen any day. Any time.

Please don’t let it be me.


Peter's YouTube reading of "Breaking News"


Peter confesses: "First thing one morning, I turned on the kitchen radio and immediately heard about a mass shooting in a distant state. 'Not again!' I shouted. Later, I wondered about the shooter. Was the guy a wacko for years, or just an ordinary person, one of us, who somehow suddenly snapped?"


PETER GREGG SLATER, at one time an English major, jumped ship to become a historian. He has taught history at several institutions, including Dartmouth College and the University of California, Berkeley. But something literary is in his DNA as he published his first short story while serving as the chair of a history department. In retirement, he has come full circle, devoting himself to creative writing. His work has appeared in DASH, Workers Write!, The Satirist, Masque & Spectacle, and WordSwell.