~~~

What’s the easiest way to read Poems of the Week? In your email inbox, hot off the cyberpress! Just sign up for our free Substack here.

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 17

by Claudia Gary

“The Smithsonian museums and National Zoo are set to reopen within days… The Smithsonian Institution says… the animals at the National Zoo and its center in Front Royal, Virginia, were still cared for [during the government shutdown].”
—NBC

Oh God, they’re coming back soon
to traipse around and stare
with stupid expectation
that when we leave our lair

it’s just for them. How lovely
to preen and lope and screech
for one another only!
But soon, gross human speech

will fill our paths and hallways
again. Cameras will flash
and popcorn scent, as always,
float by while children dash

up to the fence and mimic
our faces of ennui.
Were we too optimistic,
hoping they’d let us be?

by Nora Jay

Shutdown? Shut up. The Dems have, once again,
Done what they like to do with coils of rope.
The look’s not good for anyone’s campaign
When Jeffrey Epstein is their greatest hope.

by Julia Griffin

For Mary

“The Penny Dies at 232:
A long decline into irrelevance ended on Wednesday in Philadelphia.”
—The New York Times

The penny drops. Its fall’s complete.
It cost too much, the bankers bleat.
You’ll have to junk your little stash;
Though Hamilton might think this rash,
Fiat and crypto have it beat.

The penny’s value was discreet:
It could secure a little treat,
Or, saved, add up to well-earned cash.
The penny drops

Today, and in its brusque defeat
I’m sensing something like a cheat;
A humble item, lacking flash,
Has gone, unthanked, like common trash:
Without the tiniest receipt,
The penny drops.

by Paul Lander

Heads alive, tails gone:
Heads, tails, heads, tails, heads, tails, heads—
Jackie Chan lives on!

by Iris Herriot

“Who is ‘fedora man’? Dapper French teenager in viral Louvre heist photo unmasked:
Fifteen-year-old Pedro Elias Garzon Delvaux was captured looking suave in a picture outside the Paris museum on the day of a crown jewels heist”
—The Guardian

He wore a brown fedora
That flattered his physique,
Bequeathing him an aura
Of Raymond Chandler chic;

He made no crass maneuver
To draw the crowding press,
Just lounged outside the Louvre
All weary knowingness.

Already thrilled and dizzy—
The heist had been so bold—
The world implored “Who is he?”
But when the truth was told,

It felt somehow defective.
His vita was so brief:
French schoolboy, not detective,
And (Zut alors!) not thief.

by Jerome Betts

“Worth a shout? Yelling is the best way to deter gulls, UK study suggests”
—The Guardian

It seems that shouting has deterred
The crime of “robbery by bird,”
But, when starved seagulls mount attacks
On tourists’ chips and other snacks,
The sort of yell the thieves might wish
Is . . . Sorry that we stole your fish!

by Thomas DeFreitas

“New Hampshire [Democratic] Sen. Jeanne Shaheen defended her vote to end the record-breaking government shutdown…”
—USA Today

It’s been a while since Jeanne Shaheen
Last surfaced on my radar screen,
And, truth be told (does this sound mean?),
I much preferred Shaheen unseen.

by Steven Urquhart Bell

“I tried [soccer star] Erling Halland’s fitness routine for a day. I’ve rarely felt so smug”
– The Telegraph

But even just a small amount of training
Can leave you with a gratifying glow,
As long as you are regularly checking
It’s slightly more than anyone you know.