Happy Happy Happy! Joy Joy Joy?

Thanks to James Penha for publishing my poem "Department of Justice Releases America’s 250th Birthday Song" in The New Verse News on this Fourth of July.

Publications I'm Proud of in 2025: My New Verse News Poems

I started 2025 in James Penha's publication with "Anita Bryant's Last Christmas Wish." Then I returned in the summertime with "I Can't Hear You" The poem I'm proudest of, however, is "Debate Rests," which was published in September during a time of political violence paired with fanatical bloodlust. Too subtle at the time to garner any outrage, I would rank the poem as one of my best works written this year. I hope to have a poem in The New Verse News before the end of 2025 (tomorrow, I guess), but if nothing else gets in, I'm still very pleased.

Your Wednesday Morning Poetry

The hell with holiday poetry. Here's a poem published in The New Verse News. Read "Holes" by Christine Sikorski.

 

Your Wednesday Morning Poetry

I caught this poem by Ellen D.B. Riggle which connects with a post I'll be putting up later this morning. Read "Pointing Finger" over The New Verse News. Next week, I'll try to feature something from a different journal. 

 

Your Wednesday Morning Poetry

This is the only picture of DJ Benhaim I've been able to find, and this was on African Writer Magazine. He's a hard person to photograph I guess. He just had a poem in The New Verse News. Check out "No Kings Allowed."

Fired

"Debate Rests" is my latest poem in The New Verse News. Thanks to James Penha for allowing this timely piece on his journal and Substack page. 

Read This, Hear This

James Penha and The New Verse News return today, and I'm glad to have my poem "I Can't Hear You" published today.

Your Wednesday Morning Poetry

Jacqueline Coleman-Fried wrote a poem while being in the thick of the recent conflict between Iran and Israel. Read "Wedding in Israel," published this past weekend in The New Verse News. 

Your Wednesday Morning Poetry

Pepper Trail has an amazing poem on the current Los Angeles fires. Read "Red Flags" over at The New Verse News. 

Pie in the Sky

I wrote another take on the death of Anita Bryant, and now it's been published in The New Verse News. Read "Anita Bryant's Last Christmas Wish." Thanks to James Penha for publishing my work again.

Publications I'm Proud of in 2024: My New Verse News Poem

In late August, I had twelve hours of uninterrupted time to write and submit work. Inspired by my dabbling in AI, I wrote "Trump AI Generates His Second Inauguration" and submitted it to The New Verse News with AI art I created tongue in cheek. It was published the following morning. 

That same morning, I started getting sick with a non-COVID cough (possibly the same illness my girlfriend had) that essentially lasted until October and really slowed down my output.

It's as if writing the poem took nearly everything out of me. Still, I read that poem and think, Worth it. Especially since it may be my only contribution for The New Verse News this year.

My only regret is that it seems to have inspired more online poetry journals using AI for their posts. I only used it in this instance to make a point. 

Your Wednesday Morning Poetry

 

 

For the day before families gather for what might be a very awkward holiday dinner, it seems appropriate to feature Anita S. Pulier's poem "Dear MAGAS," which was recently published in The New Verse News. 

Your Wednesday Morning Poetry

The New Verse News published a poem by Stacie Somerset about the election of Julie Johnson (shown above). Read "What I Need to Hear."

Summer 2024 Highlights: My Poem in The New Verse News

I failed a lot as a writer this summer in ways that I don't want to talk about openly. One of my brighter spots was getting "Trump AI Generates His Second Inauguration" in The New Verse News. I had one day in August to go nuts and bang out a poem on a timely subject (Trump posting AI images of "Swifties for Trump"), and I did it. I was getting sick with not-COVID, so there was one error in the poem (over-capitalization, of all things), but I got that fixed once I could read without coughing. I even got to play with AI a little (hence the above image). Probably won't do that again (at least not with poetry), but I'm glad I got to play a little with this piece. If this is the only time I get published in The New Verse News this year, I'll be happy.

It Looks So Real!

With the help of an AI generator, I was able to create some "original" work for my poem at The New Verse News, "Trump AI Generates His Second Inauguration." Thanks to James Penha for including my work today. 

Your Wednesday Morning Poetry

 

 

Acrostic poems on current events seem to be all the rave. Here's a recent poem by Lavinia Kumar for The New Verse News, "Speaking, Unspeaking."

Your Wednesday Morning Poetry

 

    

Today's going to be a Sinéad O’Connor kind of day. We're starting off with a poem by Irish poet Gifford Savage. Read "Too Late for Roses," published yesterday in The New Verse News.

New Poem for Monday

 

 

"What They Tried in my Small Town," my second response to Jason Aldean's song, is up at The New Verse News. Thanks again to James Penha for the opportunity.

 

From the Deep

 

 

Last night The New Verse News published my OceanGate poem "Tourist Trap." Thanks to James Penha for my timely appearance in his journal.

Your Wednesday Morning Poetry

 

 

The New Verse News published poems to mark Trump's indictment this week. Read "Queens Man Indicted" by Martha Deed.