Another night of shifting, flipping the pillow, and counting sheep …
my thoughts pacing
in moonlit dark, one stray
outbarks the rest
Added: This Brave New World, CXXVII
round after round
pink slips slide across desks—
warehouse aisles hum
as robots pick and place parcels
on time, 24/7
FYI: CBC News, Jan. 28 2026:
Amazon is slashing about 16,000 corporate jobs — the second round of mass layoffs for the e-commerce company in three months...The latest reductions follow a round of job cuts in October, when Amazon said it was laying off 14,000 workers.
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXV: "New Gaza"
New Gaza: a coastal strip, replete with high-rises and resorts.
newsfeed scroll:
ripped tents after ripped tents
in freezing rain
FYI: The Nation, January 30 2026: Jared Kushner’s “Plan” for Gaza Is an Abomination
Kushner is pitching a “new,” gleaming resort hub. But scratch the surface, and you find nothing less than a blueprint for ethnic cleansing.
And this is a sequel to my gembun below:
Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXI: "Phase Two"
The ink barely dry on the paper, and Phase Two of the ceasefire plan announced to the clicking of cameras.
these dark blue lips
as frost thickens on cracked panes
Gazan sky tinged red
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXV: "skeletal houses"
raven by raven
skeletal houses in Gaza
darkening
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXXVI: "Rafah refugee camp"
tents go dark
in Rafah refugee camp
moon-filled puddles
Added: Trump Empire, Inc, LXXIV
written in response to The Daily show, Jan. 30 2026: the best bribe disguised as a documentary goes to... "Melania"
in the near-dark room
less than a dozen viewers
glance back and forth …
Melania Trump’s mouth
rarely opens on screen
Added: Trump Empire, Inc, LXXV
on silver screen
Melania walking, walking
to nowhere ...
viewers awake when the light's on
all give ¼ star
FYI: The Nation Magazine, Feb. 2 2026: The Melania in Melania Likes Her Gilded Cage Just Fine
The $45 million advertorial abounds in unintended ironies.
Melania, this documentary makes perfectly clear, likes her gilded cage just fine. After all, it lets her produce this movie starring her clothes, her hair, her shoes, and her complexion, and how many women can say the same?
In the film, the First Lady comes across as brittle and materialistic; her interactions with her son and husband are stiff. Instead of baby photos or family mementos, viewers get so many shots of Melania in high heels that it starts to feel “like an OnlyFans account crossed with that meme of Kim Jong Un visiting factories,” Caroline Mimbs Nyce writes in her delightfully cutting review, The Melania Documentary Is “Exceedingly Mid"