WE’VE HEARD of shock therapy, and “Shock of the New.” What about shock poetry? Or at least, Poetry NOW?

Meaning, ways of approaching current events in a more unstructured fashion; in so doing, expressing the truth of a matter better than long think pieces. Our new featured poetry, “On the Killing of Brian Thompson and the Coronation of Luigi Mangione” by Bud Sturguess, is an example of the examination of news through art– distilled through art– containing resonances of past and present accused/villains turned into celebrities, as well as our society’s all-encompassing media landscape. Echoes of influences we carry inescapably with us at all times.

Read the poem and see what you think!

I saw Mr. Oswald (or someone who stole his face)
Mr. Guiteau, a slew of Proud Boys,
defenders of such and such a race,
and the fellow who shot Spencer Percival
(I was embarrassed to forget his name)
There was even a scruffy fellow I knew as Joe
(of “Hey Joe” fame)
and true to lore, in his hand he held a gun