Breaking News and Hearts…

Breaking news and hearts
he’d waited all his life to see the Northern Lights
and when they finally shimmered – he slept through it

Breaking news and hearts
he was her Pole Star
and without him she lost all direction

Breaking news and hearts
the last Polar bear had
no Arctic ice to hunt upon

Breaking news and hearts
she broke the mirror her grandmother
smuggled beyond the reach of the Holocaust

Breaking news and hearts
the baby drove the boy away
and not surely into her arms

Breaking news and hearts
a premmie did not heroically make it
as the movies teach us to expect

Breaking news and hearts
the dead in Gaza top forty thousand
and Zion still hasn’t had its pound of flesh

Breaking news and hearts
another little babe is born
somewhere under the stars…

© Andrew Wilson, 2024

Created in Midjourney

Over at dVerse Poets Pub, Melissa Lemay in Uncategorized invites us to write Zeugmatically. The word zeugma is defined by Merriam-Webster as “a figure of speech in which a word applies to two others in different senses”. 

16 thoughts on “Breaking News and Hearts…

  • August 14, 2024 at 8:03 am
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    Hi Andrew, an evocative poem. Your repeated line really drives the emotion home.

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    • August 14, 2024 at 8:11 am
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      Thanks, Robbie, I was hoping for more examples of zeugma but once I had that line in mind it just kept repeating…

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  • August 14, 2024 at 10:17 am
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    The repetition of your zeugma works really well, Andrew, and I like the irony of the opening stanza and the tragic poignancy of these lines:
    ‘she broke the mirror her grandmother
    smuggled beyond the reach of the Holocaust’.

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    • August 14, 2024 at 12:22 pm
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      Truly a procession of human folly from the mild to the extreme, Kim…

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  • August 14, 2024 at 8:22 pm
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    There’s so much broken in this world, Andrew. Your repeated line hammers it home.

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    • August 14, 2024 at 10:18 pm
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      A little hope at the end be it ever so fragile, Jane…

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  • August 14, 2024 at 11:30 pm
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    Andrew, you remind me how often hearts and breaking go hand in hand. You’ve captured the zeugmatic spirit well here.

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    • August 15, 2024 at 1:58 pm
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      Yes indeed, Lisa – the zeugma released an unstoppable flood of grievous images…

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  • August 15, 2024 at 12:04 am
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    The repetition of the line is so effective….and it just keeps coming and coming and coming with your examples. But yes, I feel hope in your last example. All may not be lost.

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    • August 15, 2024 at 2:00 pm
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      Not a very cheerful effort, Lillian, but sometimes these things need saying by poets and not necessarily sugar coated…

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  • August 15, 2024 at 3:02 am
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    As others have already said, the line really drives it home. You used a lot of hard hitting examples as well.

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    • August 15, 2024 at 2:02 pm
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      I immediately tried to think of more than one zeugma to meet your challenge Melissa but the one line was so powerful it just ran away with me…

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  • August 16, 2024 at 2:26 am
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    Nice use of the repeating line.
    Happy you dropped by to read mine

    much♡love

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    • August 16, 2024 at 11:11 am
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      Thanks, Gillena…

      Reply
  • August 20, 2024 at 7:43 pm
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    Breathtaking, especially the last stanzas, Andrew!

    I enjoyed hearing you read it aloud last Saturday. (I could swear this is the one, but the way my mind flows? 🤣Apologies if I recalled incorrectly.)

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    • August 21, 2024 at 6:13 am
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      It was Famous or Infamous, Frank but I am so glad you found this one too – its amazing how after hearing those who read at OLN, we can hear their voice when reading their poems…

      Reply

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