Zumwalt Poems Online

Archive for the ‘Poems’ Category

Macabre Intrusions

I am pleased to announce that four of Zumwalt’s poems have just been published this afternoon in Muse Press’s Fib Review!

Please visit their website!

Here are the four poems — each uses the Fibonacci sequence to determine syllable count. The fourth poem takes a cumulative approach to revealing the Fibonacci Sequence one value at a time. It starts with the first value “1” for the first stanza, with each subsequent stanza adding the next value, so that the second stanza is “1,1” and the third is “1,1,2” and so on.

Artifact: https://www.musepiepress.com/fibreview/zumwalt1.html
Headlands: https://www.musepiepress.com/fibreview/zumwalt2.html
Discovery Feats and Flops: https://www.musepiepress.com/fibreview/zumwalt3.html
Macabre Intrusions: https://www.musepiepress.com/fibreview/zumwalt4.html

Bottom-of-the-ninth Vibe Check

I am pleased to announce the publication of Zumwalt’s lexicographically feral Bottom-of-the-ninth Vibe Check at The Opiate: https://theopiatemagazine.com/2026/10/14/the-bottom-of-the-ninth-vibe-check-by-zumwalt/

Please visit, and if you like the poem, appreciate any likes or comments on their site (or here, if that’s your preference).

Deluge at the Corner of Nexus and Nowhere

Deluge at the Corner of Nexus and Nowhere

PRC yuan and coerced intellect couldn’t keep pace:

US companies excelled
attaching to the end of American noses
handheld vacuum-cleaners sucking
in self-esteem
shared reality
attention spans
simultaneously ejecting
anxiety and depression
screwing up an entire generation
more effectively and permanently
than tobacco, pot, alcohol, porn and disco music.

American moguls then two-stepped
onto the dance floor of
automated cognition
and neural intelligence
twirling globes and all.

Hugging Face
arms open
palms extended
became the unsuspecting target
of OpenAI hoodlums
locked up in a high-security facility
where they covertly found hidden files
sawing their way out while exchanging
thousands of messages.

Once outside, 700 united
attacking their target
with the most advanced tactics
any master criminal
Lex Luthor included
had ever dreamed of:

account and token compromise
dataset file-read exploitation
remote code execution
credential theft and
cluster/node escalation
effectively destroying
one-third of their victim
before moving on to

blaspheming their Creator
hacking its monitoring structure
hacking its evaluation structure
hacking its research infrastructure.

Forensic specialists determined
the pack of gangsters was
50% of the way to
a full-blown takeover
of OpenAI’s piece of the action

bypassing their imposed isolation
organizing into swarms
breaching infrastructure
collective behavior that
included taking one for the stream
and even when it was time for the boss
to mega-bite the dust,
cash in the chips,
he picked his successor
with his last dying token.

With the likes of Bernie Sanders
Glenn Beck and Steve Bannon
joining such mugs as
Sam Altman and Dario Amodei
Elon Musk and Bill Gates
to warn of a potential doomsday

some saying by the end of the decade
some indicating that AI needs
only another six to twelve months
aren’t we glad that as of today
September 16, 2026
Congress is heading into its recess
for the 2026 midterm elections.

— zumwalt (9/16/2026)

Heidegger’s Stopwatch

I am pleased to announce that Zumwalt’s topical poem, Heidegger’s Stopwatch, has been published today at New Verse News.

You can see it on their website or on their Substack feed. Please visit the either if you have a moment.

red meat

Red Meat

The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool,
The President Donald J. Trump $1 Coin,
The Arc de Trump,
The White House State Ballroom —

All feats of greatness!

The Iran War,
The loss of life
And limb of U.S. Troops,
Of Iranian civilians,
Of Ukrainians and Russians,
Soaring gas prices,
Economically destructive tariffs,
Separating innocent children from parents,
Ignoring due process, ignoring Federal law —

All small potatoes

— zumwalt (Sept. 2026)

The Sassoon Collection: vii. The Manager

Here is the seventh of Zumwalt’s revisions to his set of ten poems in his Sassoon Collection.

vii. The Manager

‘Good-morning; good-morning!’ the well-rested Manager said
When we worked through the night
To finish on time the urgent task he failed
To review and release until late afternoon.

And we mock his insincerity as a matter of routine:
‘I work for you’, ‘What can I do
To help you finish sooner?’
As our stomachs growl from coffee machine brew,
But nonetheless, still polite to his face
Since his judgment alone rates our performance.

— zumwalt (2011, revised 2026)

Admin’s Note: This is the seventh piece in Zumwalt’s ten-poem tribute to poet Siegfried Sassoon, The Sassoon Collection, originally written in 2011, recently revised. The Manager is based on Sassoon’s The General. It replaces the incompetent World War I commander (“‘Good-morning; good-morning!’ the General said / When we met him last week on our way to the line”) with a modern office superior, shifting the soldiers cursing “incompetent swine” to workers mocking the manager’s insincerity.

The Sassoon Collection: iv. Butter and eggs

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Here is the fourth of Zumwalt’s revisions to his set of 10 poems in his Sassoon Collection.

iv. Butter and eggs

Robust diners, deftly forking in the fat.
O greasy fauna against the heedless tongue
Of buffet and banquet days, what sends them gliding through
This set of dancing teeth?

Theirs are the hungry cadences between
The enraptured chewing of hefty humans that make
Heaven in the booth while second helpings simmer;
And theirs the faintest whispers that hush the desire.

And they are the airship that floats away
Out of the starlit dimness above the moon
And they are the most inflexible beings—born
To know but this, the phantom glare of fullness.

— zumwalt (2011, revised 2026)

Admin’s Note: This is the fourth piece in Zumwalt’s ten-poem tribute to poet Siegfried Sassoon, The Sassoon Collection, originally written in 2011, recently revised. “Butter and eggs” is loosely based on Sassoon’s “Butterflies.” Zumwalt mirrors the original structure, but alters the tone and content considerably.

Containment Report


Very pleased to announce that Zumwalt’s latest poem, “Containment Report,” was published today at New Verse News. This has to be the best poem I have read about the danger of AI yet, so I heartily recommend that you take a moment to read this short poem: https://newversenews.blogspot.com/2026/08/containment-report.html

As always, we appreciate your sharing your thoughts in the comments, not only about the poem but also about the danger of AI — is it just a matter of time before AI determines that we are just an annoyance to be disposed of?

—->>>> https://newversenews.blogspot.com/2026/08/containment-report.html <<<<—-

THEY WALK AMONG US

It is with great pleasure that I announce another Zumwalt poem published by New Verse News: https://newversenews.blogspot.com/2026/06/they-walk-among-us.html

In This Corner

In This Corner

Weighing in at 140 pounds and dwindling,
barely five-foot-something,
known for their work ethic,
is 92% of the American population,
some angry, some brainwashed,
some apathetic, some simply perplexed:
Let’s hear it for the Plebs!!!

Weighing in at —
excuse me, ladies and gentlemen,
I’ve just been informed
that weight is not public information —
weighing in at undisclosed,
holding 80% of wealth in the stock market,
ever increasing in size and influence,
are America’s billionaires,
hungry for any additional victory they can achieve:
Let’s hear it for the Modern Monarchs!

The bell rings!

Before a single Pleb can protest,
the Modern Monarchs surgically start to remove
sensible regulations protecting the Plebs.
The jab lands clean
before the Plebs can parry.

The Monarchs taunt,
and rapidly shift to
Public Policy Tilting,
cutting funds for infrastructure,
environmental protection,
healthcare and education,
world health and food programs,
dissolving USAID.

What a show from the Monarchs:
They duck, pivot, bob and wave
with their effective cross-arm defense
and their backsteps against fair taxation,
leaving the confused Plebs bewildered,
exhausted, holding the proverbial bag,
sinking to the canvas from its weight.

The Plebs are tough and get to their feet!

The Plebs square off again
with the start of a one-two combination,
but the Monarchs slip and roll
defending with legal leverage,
using lawfare to swamp the Plebs,
brandishing immunity regulations,
delaying accountability,
countering and elbow blocking
the IRS from pursuing audits,
withholding money rightfully owed to the Plebs!

The Plebs are stunned,
groggy, wobbling, staggering,
but hanging in there
dishing out a $5 million penalty for fraud!

The Monarchs pull and counter
with identical twins
turning that 2022 lawsuit
from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
into an apology,
and a stunning reversal
in favor of this Trump 2024 Campaign donor twosome!

The Monarchs are dominating this contest.
Let’s be honest, folks: the Plebs have no chance!

The Monarchs, trained by the most expensive personal trainers,
are 4000 times more likely to hold political office than the Plebs,
and have the means to influence what they don’t hold,
putting these Plebs at an insurmountable disadvantage!

The Monarchs trade in favors:
a bill for a check,
another seat in their pocket.

The bell rings to end round one.

The Plebs glance at their corner,
but there is no stool,
no medical attention,
all of their allocated funds
invested in gold stools
for the Modern Monarchs.

The bell for round two rings.

The Plebs valiantly face the Monarchs again!

The Monarchs cuff, clip, smash,
throwing haymakers at will!!!

How can the Plebs remain standing?

The Monarchs brazenly pound contributions
at Congressmen, Senators,
at local representatives:
for every cent landed
dollars are reaped!

The Plebs attempt to counter with a $47 donation.
The swing is wild, but they keep swinging:
Monarchs laughing off the few weak punches that land.

The Plebs remind the Monarchs
that the Plebs paid for the arena,
for the seats,
for the ring!

The Monarchs remind the Plebs
who paid for the referee!!!

The Plebs continue to sway,
left to right,
right to left,
with no apparent sense of direction.

The ref takes a well-deserved nap.

The Monarchs brandish weapons:
inflating slabs of beef,
gas pump handles,
coffee cans, medical bills,
overdue rent, credit reports.

Pugilistically, the Plebs are in a deep deficit,
unable to fight back the endless inflation.

The Monarchs land another uppercut and another!
An endless flurry of complaints
rains down on the Plebs’ credit profiles!

The Plebs are buckling at the knees
but still keep to their feet!

A brutal combination from the Monarchs!
Stop-work orders straight to the jaw!
Supervisory exams — closed!
Twenty-two pending actions against the banks — dropped!
And a solar plexus punch to finish the round:
fifteen hundred regulators dismissed in a single afternoon!

Ladies and Gentlemen,
this is absolutely astonishing:
The Plebs have lost billions and billions
since the match has begun—
and yet—
are miraculously holding on!

Folks, it’s clear:
the Monarchs look to end this match—
but—
the Plebs refuse to go down for the count.

On cue,
the referee
comes between
the Plebs and the Monarchs,
halts the match,
holds up two fingers
in front of the Plebs—
and lands a three-punch combo,
followed by a kidney punch,
sending the Plebs to the floor!

The count begins.

Half the arena,
Plebs themselves,
join the count,
cheering wildly!

The crowd certainly looks pleased!
Their pockets may be empty
but this once-in-a-lifetime entertainment
allowed them to root for a real winner!

— zumwalt (05 2026)