NVN Tuesday... Delay-Deny-Depose: 3 Poems

“Algorithm” by Elaine Sorrentino, “On the Death of a CEO” by Lori D’Angelo, “The Truth About Cynicism” by Michael Mark

ALGORITHM

by Elaine Sorrentino

AI-generated graphic by NightCafe for The New Verse News.

*

I’m no statistician
but I wonder if UnitedHealth factored in
the percentage of declined subscribers
who would rejoice over deadly revenge
when calculating risk for the most vulnerable─
a system predisposed to dollars over lives,
one with a ninety percent error rate;
what ailing patient is up for that legal battle?
I question where my claim would land
in the roulette wheel of computations;
having dipped into this well twice,
would my ball stop in the red DENIED pocket?

*

Elaine Sorrentino has been published in Minerva Rising, Willawaw Journal, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, Ekphrastic Review, ONE ART: a journal of poetry, Haiku Universe,The New Verse News, Sparks of Calliope, Gyroscope Review, Quartet Journal, The Raven’s Perch,and Panoplyzine. She hosts the Duxbury Poetry Circle, was featured on a poetry podcast at Onyx Publications. Her first collection of poetry, called Belly Dancing in a Brown Sweatsuit is in production at Kelsay Books.

*

ON THE DEATH OF A CEO

by Lori D’Angelo

*

We don't trade one life for another or
a thousand. With every loss, the universe
cries out and also keeps on. Nothing, not 
yet, stops it. So, yes, whether your mother
just found out she has cancer or your father
has just entered hospice, the clock still tick
tocks, minutes go by. Every year, around this
time, we watch Dickens' A Christmas Carol
and think, Ah yes, even a miser had a soul. 
But yet when a man whose company did 
some shitty shady things dies, don't join in
the chorus of he deserved it haters. It's not 
much different to do that than it is to weigh
worth by a claim denied algorithm. If you say
all of them, mean all of them, even the maybe 
he deserved it bastards. In earth, their bones, 
our bones, all rot the same. The minute you 
forget, you become what you thought you'd
never be: callous, jaded, alive but also dead. 
Instead,                                      mourn it all.

*

Lori D'Angelo is a grant recipient from the Elizabeth George Foundation, a fellow at the Hambidge Center for Creative Arts, and an alumna of the Community of Writers. Her work has appeared in various literary journals including BULL, Gargoyle, Drunken Boat, Moon City Review, and Rejection Letters. Her first book, a collection called The Monsters Are Here, was recently published by ELJ Editions.

*

THE TRUTH ABOUT CYNICISM

by Michael Mark

*

The doctor looks at the x-ray 
of my little toe and notices
a dip in his 
Money Market fund. 
 
He recommends surgery.
 
The authorization request 
is forwarded to the insurance 
company examiner who'd
been warned by management 
about being too liberal with 
approvals.
 
She reviews the doctor’s 
diagnosis, carefully 
considering her job security.
 
After reading the denial
my wife
asks why we pay so much
for insurance if we can’t
use it.
 
And why doctors go
to medical school to get 
all the knowledge 
when the insurance 
companies
have all the power.
 
And why do I 
go around without shoes 
all the time
because that’s what caused
the bump on my toe?
 
I go for a ride to blow off
steam and my car breaks down.
 
Bending over the engine, 
the mechanic 
glances at my expensive shoes
and I say,
Yeah, I know, this is going to be a big job.

*

Michael Mark is the author of Visiting Her in Queens is More Enlightening than a Month in a Monastery in Tibet, awarded the 2022 Rattle Chapbook Prize. Poems appear in Alaska Quarterly Review, Copper Nickel, New Ohio Review, Passages North, Ploughshares, 32 Poems, The Sun, The Best New Poets 2024.