To read the latest issue, click 'Issues by year' in the menu above

Red sticker of Donald Trump

Philip Kitcher: Eligibility Evolves          

Three centuries saw Brits refuse
   high office to a papist.
Will former colonies soon choose 
   as President a rapist?

⸎    ⸎     ⸎    ⸎   ⸎    ⸎    ⸎    ⸎   ⸎


Felicia Nimue Ackerman: Way To Go, Joe!

"Biden Made a Courageous Choice."
The New York Times

You have swallowed your pride,
Set your ego aside
For the general good – 
No way Trump ever would!

⸎    ⸎     ⸎    ⸎   ⸎    ⸎    ⸎    ⸎   ⸎

Jerome Betts: MAGAlomania?

(DJT has repeatedly suggested that God
wants him to win the 2024 election . . .)

PMs Johnson, L. Truss and T. May
Feared ‘the men in grey suits’ would stop play.

For D. Trump, spouting drivel for votes, 
It’s more likely they’ll be in white coats?

⸎    ⸎     ⸎    ⸎   ⸎    ⸎    ⸎    ⸎   ⸎

Russel Winick: Reminder
 
I listen to kids in their 20-plus stage,
The cascade of claims they bestow.
Exactly like me at that very young age,
And how much I too used to know.

⸎    ⸎     ⸎    ⸎   ⸎    ⸎    ⸎    ⸎   ⸎

Joe Crocker: Jumping The Gun

Inopportune
excitement spoils my celebration.
I shout too soon:
a premature ejaculation.

⸎    ⸎     ⸎    ⸎   ⸎    ⸎    ⸎    ⸎   ⸎

Terry Sherwood: A Dark Frippery

At my age, a certain destination
is too uncomfortable for contemplation.
No, I would not like to check 'Update notification'.
I'd rather leave it blank in favour of procrastination. 

  ⸎    ⸎     ⸎    ⸎   ⸎    ⸎    ⸎    ⸎   ⸎  

Pat D’Amico: Water Woes

Our water heater overflowed,
Causing us to bail.
Despite our work, it barely slowed –
It was beyond the pail.

  ⸎    ⸎     ⸎    ⸎   ⸎    ⸎    ⸎    ⸎   ⸎

Don Nigroni: My Bigfoot Encounter

So, my photo wasn't tack sharp, really somewhat blurry,
but he was so shaggy, the snow such a swirling flurry,
adding to that, I was running and in quite a hurry,
too amazed and fearful but full of delightful worry!

  ⸎    ⸎     ⸎    ⸎   ⸎    ⸎    ⸎    ⸎   ⸎

Alex Steelsmith: Domino Effect
      
(In 1955 police in Bridgeport, Connecticut cancelled 
a dance that featured Fats Domino. People were 
worried that rock and roll music could cause a riot.)
 
Bridgeport’s inhabitants sixty-nine years ago
worried that Fats might be cause for a riot;                            
now they’re unthreatened by Domino’s music, though                                
some might be worried by fats in their diet. 

⸎    ⸎     ⸎    ⸎   ⸎    ⸎    ⸎    ⸎   ⸎

Felicia Nimue Ackerman: The More the Merrier

“The critic Becca Rothfeld’s first collection, ‘All Things
Are Too Small: Essays in Praise Of Excess’, is
splendidly immodest in its neo-Romantic agenda –
to tear down minimalism and puritanism in its many
current varieties . . .” - New York Times Book Review 

Rothfeld is insightful.
Excess is delightful.
I’ll read her book, make no mistake
While wolfing down some chocolate cake.  

Slice of chocolate cake on blue plate