Robert Cooperman

TRUMP'S PROCLAMATION

“Effective immediately,
all streets, avenues, and boulevards
named for Martin Luther King, Jr.
will be renamed for the slain
American martyr, Charlie Kirk.

“In addition, all public sculptings
of King will be torn down, melted,
and recast as equestrian statues of me,
your president, Donald J. Trump.

“It’s time to start honoring us great
American heroes, not a rabble rouser
with the bad luck to get in the way
of a stray bullet when he had slinked off
to Memphis to meet his mistress.

“America needs role models
who look like its citizens:
like Charlie, true Christian men,
who built this country
and are now threatened
by snarling, woke hordes of savages.

“Any city or state that fails
to carry out these orders immediately
will lose all federal funds, plus suffer
the summary imprisonment of all officials
responsible for this act of treason.

“Are you listening New York,
Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, D.C.,
and any den of leftwing extremist traitors?
The soft times are over for you.
Real Americans are back
and we want answers and names.”


Gerald So's YouTube reading of "Trump's Proclamation"


Cooperman confesses: "'Trump's Proclamation' is just my logical conclusion to his fulminating that only "real" Americans should be honored, and by 'real' Americans we can surmise the president-would-rule-for-life means Christian white men like Charlie Kirk and even more so, himself. So why not take it one step further and make them he mandatory subjects of all public art?"

ROBERT COOPERMAN's latest collection is The Death and Rebirth of Ophelia, a retelling of Hamlet, with a slightly happier ending, at least for Ophelia. Steerage is the highly fictionalized story of his grandfather's misadventures on the Lower East Side of New York in the early 20th Century. An Oar for Odysseus is the final collection in Cooperman's lifelong love affair with Odysseus and The Odyssey.

Richie Narvaez

KNOCK KNOCK
After Hal Sirowitz

Open the door, I need to ask some questions,
the ICE agent said. I have the authority to question,
detain, and only mildly inconvenience everyone inside.
I don’t need a warrant, lady, I’m just doing my job.
You have nothing to fear, seniora,
I’m a friendly guy, trust me. It doesn’t matter
if you can’t see my face. This won’t take long,
then you can go about your life,
whatever is left of it.


Richie's YouTube reading of "Knock Knock"


Richie confesses: "I was inspired to write this poem by the death of my friend, the great poet Hal Sirowitz, and by the current crime-filled state of our government. Note: ICE agents must have warrants signed by judges in order to enter residences. They have been known to fraudulently identify themselves as police officers to get people to voluntarily let them into their residences."

RICHIE NARVAEZ is the author of two novels and two short story collections.

John Kaprielian

LA COSA AMERICANA

We used to call it "The Mafia."

Untouchable man at the top
Capos run
criminal enterprises
insinuate themselves
everywhere
funnel money
up the chain

Extortion
Bribery
Blackmail
Money laundering
Sex trafficking

Bent cops and thugs
do the enforcing
corrupt lawyers and judges
keep everyone out of jail

Get out of line
get in their way
guys in black masks
throw you in a van and
you are "disappeared"

This is also
an accurate description
of the current Administration.

Government?
No. Organized crime.


John's YouTube reading of "La Cosa Americana"


John confesses: "This poem grew directly from a comment I made online, where I said I felt like the current administration was behaving more like a crime syndicate than a government, doing all the stuff "Organized Crime" is notorious for. The parallels were too close not to try to write a poem about it."

Now retired from a career as a natural history photo editor and a digital asset librarian, JOHN KAPRIELAN has been writing poetry for over 4 decades. He brings his keen eye for natural history and a progressive point of view to many of his poems. He studied creative writing at Cornell with the poet A.R. Ammons while getting his undergraduate degree in Russian Linguistics, and holds a Masters in Information and Library Science from the University at Buffalo. He has been published in Minute Magazine, The Blue Nib, Young Ravens Literary Review, Poetry Quarterly, What Rough Beast, and many other journals, and has a poetry collection available through Amazon.

Robert Plath

TO MY 5-YEAR-OLD SELF AS I APPROACH 55

today i go thru an old door
behind my eyes
arriving back
beneath that terrible roof
& i pick you up
& we slip away
from the monster
who doesn’t notice
as he slumps
watches boxing on tv
in the den
we cross splintered
door jambs
before his fists
begin itching
& drive until we reach
a bright field
we get out
& walk
i pause to pick
a bouquet of violets
my hands touching yr hands
in a benevolent exchange
the same hands
you smile
pressing blue petals
to yr heart
like defibrillator paddles
beneath june sun


Gerald So's YouTube reading of "to my 5-year-old self..."


Rob confesses nothing.

ROB PLATH has been prolific in the underground lit. scene since 1995. His most recent poetry collections are Walking Across The Shards Of My Soul, 2021 and Batter the Keyboard Like A Raptor Is Behind Your Back, 2022. A long awaited full-length collection is due out in 2025.