The A1 Verse: Opposites attract

Every so often, a story published on the front page of the New York Times is so well written, meaningful, and appropriate to the Bulletin’s concerns that small snippets of it, properly chosen and arranged, produce something more than journalism, something that approaches … poetry. That blessed coincidence occurred October 28, 2021.

We suspect it’ll occur again.

This entry in the Bulletin’s front page found poem genre comes from reader Phoebe Meskill, a Boston resident interested in “how people derive meaning from things that seem nonsensical.” Meskill recently discovered A1 verse, and says she finds “the combination of seriousness and lightheartedness a refreshing approach to navigating increasingly distressing news and world events.”

China, Testing New Weapon, Jolts Pentagon

(by Phoebe Meskill, from the original by David E. Sanger and William J. Broad)

a very close moment
had taken its
separate
place

remained mostly silent
spoke
by other partial
suddenly shifting ways

intended
perhaps,
an evasive meaning