Howard Richard Debs

When another school

shooting crawls
across the bottom

of the screen, she scrambles
upstairs to Dylan’s

den, where she hugs his mended
bear— fixates on his class

photo—the blue
of his eyes over … Read more

Persuasion in North Korea

Image by The Diplomat 10/1/2021 Deposit Photos

Each of your flowers pops,
the art of
agitation, a subtle
dark alley
assignment, a
headache, just
business, a
paycheck
walls scaled to … Read more

DOPPLEGANGERS

I am Elizabeth. I live in North Carolina.
Ella es Isabel. Vive en Guatemala.

I live in a quiet neighborhood.
Isabel vive en un barrio notaria.

I enjoy my comfortable … Read more

Kenosha / Minneapolis

The vile kitten-mouse
Kyle Rittenhouse
weeps on the stand
and goes free.
We now understand
that George Floyd, had he wept
under Derek Chauvin’s knee,
would’ve slept
in his own … Read more

But Tonight

Image by Ahmed Adly — Unsplash

To Poe’s masquerade Death
came masked & silent
but tonight he comes
bare-faced & blustering,
boasting of freedoms
& falsehoods in a voice
full … Read more

For the Grands

To Timothy Snyder


In a few years before you cast your first ballot
for your candidate, whose rival has charmed
his way through the primaries by wrapping
himself in the … Read more

Living The Dream

  • by

In Camazotz all emotion has been eradicated
We go through the motions of a satisfying life
Doing everything in time and just right
Never lingering on the curves of love … Read more

As Greta Thunberg Says

We go on about
greening and building back better.
Our kids and grandkids say blah blah blah.

Corporations bandy about terms like
carbon neutrality and net-zero emissions.
Those who’ll pay … Read more

Aggressor

by Mitchell Hartley @mtchllhrtly at unsplash

You look like an actress
who, when she was young, kissed a man
fully-grown, not with tongue
but with teeth, sharp; vampiric & piercing… Read more

LAMENTATIONS

9/11 rescue worker with angels (public domain)

Today, I saw the earth stand still.
Thunder crashed and fire shocked the skies.

Skyscrapers toppled with a mighty sound.
Then smoke and … Read more

Britney Is Free

did you hear
Britney is free now
she uploaded her mind into the cloud
where she can live forever

Britney is free of the constraints
of being human
looks, weight, … Read more

9/11 End Game

19 of the 22 9/11 attackers
were from Saudi Arabia. So why
did we attack the Afghans?
The Afghans have not lost
a home game in over 2000 years.
The … Read more