It is with great pleasure that I announce Zumwalt’s Algos for the Soul has been published today in Bewildering Stories. Please visit here: https://www.bewilderingstories.com/issue1135/algos_souls.html
Please note that Zumwalt has indicated that the comment at the bottom of the poem was the editor’s wish to clarify that “algos” not only was short for algorithms but also Greek for “pain” so the reader could better understand the poem’s message.
I am pleased to announce that Zumwalt has had two poems published today in two fine journals.
It is an honor to be featured in these two journals. Please follow the links below to view the online presentations of these poems.
Deepwater Portfolio at New Verse News: https://newversenews.blogspot.com/2026/04/deepwater-portfolio.html
Ogun’s Toolboth at Bewildering Stories: https://www.bewilderingstories.com/issue1133/oguns_tollbooth.html
Here is the original text for Deepwater Portfolio before Zumwalt edited it for publication in New Verse News. Zumwalt indicated that he prefers this original version.
Benthic Portfolio
The bathymetric map is neatly partitioned
into optimized lease zones;
seismic airguns fracture the water column
with monetized concussions.
Audit sediment for trapped hydrocarbons;
seamlessly filter out the pathetic,
low-frequency protests of a dwindling pod:
fifty surviving Rice’s whales, biological oddities,
drowning in our modern energy paradigm.
Stupidly stubborn, incredibly spoiled,
they insist on quiet currents
and fatty silver-rag driftfish delicacies,
never exerting effort to adapt
to the tides of quarterly dividends.
Let the regulatory committees squawk about their grievances:
the diamond-tipped drill bit demands results.
Flood pelagic corridors with commercial logistics:
it’s an obvious course of action.
Trade the flawed architecture of God’s creations
for the unquestionable superiority of the combustion engine,
the freedom to wage war against any nation,
and the right to consume without restraint.
“The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, a panel made up of President Donald Trump’s appointees, on Thursday approved his proposal to build a ballroom larger than the White House itself where the East Wing once stood. […] Members of the public were asked to submit written comment by a Wednesday afternoon deadline. Thomas Leubke, the panel’s secretary, said ‘over 99%’ of the more than 2,000 messages it received in the past week from around the country were in opposition to the project.” — Associated Press (https://apnews.com/article/trump-white-house-ballroom-commission-fine-arts-f2a15d0b1c9c95f24816fe60b6b1ee5f)
From the Ground Up
The Greatest Ballroom, Trump proclaimed,
shall rise upon the White House lawn—
with funds from donors I have tamed—
and built before you know I’m gone.
Two thousand wrote from sea to sea,
with almost everyone opposed;
the Fine Arts panel nixed their plea
and voted that the case was closed.
A pity some have come to think
that honesty means not a thing,
but that’s the depth to which we sink
when a joker crowns himself a king.
— zumwalt (02/2026)
Two Zumwalt poems, including “What Am I?” published at The Good Men Project as featured content: https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/over-the-counter/
I am proud to announce the publication of another Zumwalt poem at New Verse News:
https://newversenews.blogspot.com/2026/02/a-blot-upon-thee.html
(Update: To see the poem, please click on here or the link above– you can see the redacted words in the poem this way.)
If you enjoy sampling a wide range of styles of poetry, reading poems that address interesting and relevant topics, or just reading engaging material, I recommend you visit New Verse News and take advantage of their free subscription — scroll down a bit and the subscription option is on the right side of the page. This is one of the most enjoyable contemporary poetry publications online.
Plight of the Iguanas
These reptiles that thrive in the heat
Fall frigid and plop at our feet.
From branches they’re dropping,
And from rooftops they’re flopping,
But at least we’ll have something to eat!
I am honored to announce that Zumwalt’s recent poem, “take this,” has been selected by the editors of Ink Sweat and Tears as one of their six nominees for pick of the month.
You can read all six selections here:
https://inksweatandtears.co.uk/january-2026-pick-of-the-month/
After reading, if you wish to vote just click on the Vote Here URL that is shown before the text of the six entries.
Gibbon and Toynbee bump into Spengler at Starbucks
Steel glass shafts
Glint skyward
Glittering silver deceptively erect
Yet reality is whispered
With salient impotence
In sequins, basking
They are ripe for a gaudy technicolor cave-in
To a Muzak score
Rotten props, rotten struts, rotten foundations
Polished pillars once
We’ve lost the varnish
And revel in the grease-spots
And ember-burns
While concealing our leprous nudity
in faded Purple
Thus we pursue Byzantium
At a break-neck stagger into the nitre trough
To be the feast of Seljuk flies
Humming 4-chord progressions
Rotten rags, rotten flesh, rotten sensibilities
No phoenix pyre
The red of flame metamorphosed to rust
And blue-bright iron
Decays to dust
Rubble spawning weeds
And housing ravenous mandible-clapping insects
Living but to shun the day
And suck the husk
Of desiccated brains
—Zumwalt (around 1978?)
Three Zumwalt poems were published as featured content today at The Good Men Project: https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/faceoff-on-facebook/
This is quite an honor to have three lengthy poems of this level of density and abstraction published on a high-traffic site like The Good Men Project. Please visit if you have a minute.
This is a highly visited online publication per Gemini AI: “The Good Men Project: ~2 – 3 Million monthly visitors (varies by source, sometimes listed as 1.9M unique visitors)“
FYI -- the formatting for "roads closed" was lost when posted on their site. UPDATE: Roads closed was removed from their website, requested by me, due to formatting issues. I will post an update when Roads closed is published again.
Concept of a Plan
Here is “The Great Healthcare Plan,”
The finest concept known to man.
No need to think of how this works
Or who this helps and who this hurts.
This policy is the greatest, most wonderful healthcare dream,
The biggest savings anyone has ever known or seen.
We’ll slash the drugs, making deals with forced consent,
By three hundred, four hundred — five hundred percent!
We can’t pay off the middle men,
That’s up to you to do, my friend.
If you need more to make you well,
Then just follow our plan,
straight to…
well…
straight to where I might one day dwell.
— zumwalt (January 2026)
News stories:
https://www.npr.org/2026/01/15/nx-s1-5678654/trump-great-healthcare-plan-video-announcement-aca-premiums https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/15/politics/trump-health-care-plan
