Golfball-Brained Man and Inflation Tanka

Politics of Distraction, XIII

this golfball-brained man

behind the Resolute Desk

loves inflation ...

a MAGA sign, Donald Trump

                              $20,28 per gallon

The New Verse News, June 12 2026

FYI: The Hill, June 10, 2026: Trump embraces May price spikes amid Iran war: ‘I love the inflation"

“No, I love it. The numbers were great,” Trump said when asked if he was concerned about the latest data, which showed the consumer price index rising to 4.2 percent over the past 12 months — with an increase of 0.5 percent in May alone, according to the Labor Department.

...The CPI data also showed that energy prices spiked 3.9 percent in May after having risen 3.8 percent in April and 10.9 percent in March. 

Added: Politics of Distraction, XIV

smoky haze ...

the 40th deal to end

the war of this wor(l)d

FYI: ABC News, June 16: US-Iran agreement confirms Trump trend on the art of the deal

The agreement between the United States and Iran fits with a pattern from Donald Trump where the signing of a deal appears to be the major goal and the details often seem a distant secondary consideration. 

Peace Is War

The butcher pushes more red meat through steel teeth. The wall-mounted TV blares “Operation Epic Fury” between discount ads. 

war after war ...

a white-haired man's gaunt face

in the window glare

The New Verse News, March 1 2026

War Is Peace

pyramid

after pyramid of rubble ...

again "ceasefire" strikes

fireball by fireball ...

the length

of a Gazan night

smoky twilight

a cry sinks into the sound

of a gunshot

skeletal houses

these layers of silence

upon silence

The New Verse News, November 9 2025

First Bombless Day

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXXXVIII: "first bombless day"

hometown

once a place of human warmth

and safety

now a pile of stones and dust

where memories crumble

family

once a source of love and help

now whispered names

on trembling lips

with a question, "still alive?"

ruins and ruins ...

under Gaza's smeared sun

childhood memories

scatter like splintered shards

that can’t be fit together

ceasefire deal

once a sunbird singing nonstop

now a mute swan

battling the chilly winds

of hunger and despair

The New Verse News, October 16 2025

Author’s note: The Palestine sunbird pictured above (Cinnyris osea) is a small passerine bird of the sunbird family, Nectariniidae, and in 2015, the Palestinian Authority adopted the species as a national bird. Native to Eurasia but migrating south for the winter, the mute swan (Cygnus olor) is a rare winter visitor to Palestine.

FYI: The New Yorker, Oct. 18, 2025: What Comes After Starvation in Gaza?

This month, a United Nations study published in The Lancet reported that more than fifty-four thousand children are malnourished in Gaza.

For the severely malnourished, simply starting to eat normal meals again can cause sickness—even death.

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXXXIX: "first bombless night"

canopy of stars

on first bombless night

shards of thoughts

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXL: "death and life"

Death and Life

I stand closer to you

than I have been in two years 

but there's no hug

no healing..., a mother eulogizes

as the sky roils with dark clouds

the first rays 

of autumn sunset glow

the color 

returning to the face

of a released hostage