news gone unreported

news gone unreported, my thirteenth chapbook, was written during 2026 January 15-28; it is 15 pages long, excluding the front cover. It is my first work devoted exclusively to protest.

I cannot remember why I wrote “ice always thaws”; I think it was a general gesture at the Trump inauguration. The timestamp also says I wrote it late at night, on 2026 January 15 at 22:49, so maybe I was just deep in my thoughts and it suddenly came up.

I do remember, though, why I wrote “dictators die” and “dave & busters”: I saw a Reddit post about ICE agents rupturing the testicles of detainees. Whether it was true or not, it was one of the first and most memorable examples of something with politics actually making me feel disgusted, which is notable considering that I have been thoroughly desensitised to most things. I spent about thirty-five minutes writing “dictators die” and aimed for it to finish off the remaining 12 or so pages of the notebook; all the accusations detailed in the poem were taken from memory.

“dave & busters” is later referenced in “recantation 2”, the second poem in recantations, my seventeenth chapbook.