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ISSUE 5

Flavian Mark Lupinetti

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With Fava Beans and a Nice Chianti

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The Romans fed some Christians to the lions, that’s correct.
Perhaps in numbers just too small to gain desired effect.
One might conclude this menu choice—as entrées or as starters—
Advanced the early church by celebration of its martyrs.
Yet my appeal, “Let’s eat the rich,” does not mean eat them all.
Just six or seven dozen should suffice to cast a pall
On oligarchs uneaten and result in lesser thievery,
Less greedy acquisition, and less rampant gross deceivery.
A Buffet ala Warren a delightful way to dine.
A member of the Walton clan serenely poached in wine.
A hearty Zuckerberger strikes a culinary stroke,
And we can teach the world to sing with ice-cold Charles Koch
We needn’t fear a backlash from a trembling Jeffrey Bezos.
In response to these examples he’ll surrender precious pesos.
How then might we proceed? I shall elect to be quite brusque:
It seems the wisest next step should be roast of Elon Musk.

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The New York Times' Instructions to Journalists

 

A leaked memo from The New York Times editors reveals instructions to reporters covering Israel’s war on Gaza. Which of the following are genuine instructions? Which are not?

 

Please do not use the term genocide.

 

Scorched earth campaign carries

a pejorative connotation. 

A more specific description is preferred.

 

Please do not use the term ethnic cleansing.

 

Fatalities among people under age 18

is more precise than numbers of dead children.

 

Try to avoid the label occupied territory

in identifying particular regions.

 

Exercise caution in designating a group

innocent bystanders

unless innocence can be corroborated.

 

Use Palestine in very rare cases,

such as in referencing historic Palestine.

Do not include in datelines, routine text, or headlines.

 

Forced expulsion of civilian populations

could be more accurately characterized as

humanitarian migration to zones free of kinetic activity.

 

Words like slaughter, massacre, and carnage

often convey more emotion than information.

Think hard before using them in our own voice.

 

Although aid agencies are frequently employing the abbreviation

WCNSF for Wounded Child, No Surviving Family,

the Times Manual of Style and Usage considers this irregular.

 

Steer clear of the expression refugee camps.

Call them neighborhoods or areas.

 

Obstacles to food deliveries is objective.

Intentional starvation is polemical. 

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Answer:  Stanzas one, three, five, seven, nine, and eleven represent genuine instructions described in the memo.  The others are fictional—so far.

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With Fava Beans and a Nice ChiantiFlavian Mark Lupinetti
00:00 / 01:21

Flavian Mark Lupinetti, a Pushcart nominated poet, fiction writer, and cardiac surgeon, received his MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. His work has appeared in Bellevue Literary Review, Cutthroat, december, Redivider, and ZYZZYVA among other publications. Mark lives in New Mexico.

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