Artwork © Eric N. Peterson

 

A Pantoum for Dyst(h)opia 2026

Maintaining hope used to be a soothing ointment
but now believing things will turn around
sets me up for disappointment
and a devastating let down.

There were days I believed things would turn around.
See, I used to embrace hope in my poetry.
Now hope is a devastating let down,
sadness finds its way into every verse.

I used to embrace hope in my poetry
but, I’m living in dyst(h)opia.
Sadness finds its way into every verse
and hope only makes my melancholy worse.

I’m living in dyst(h)opia.
Hope sets me up me up for disappointment,
making my melancholy worse.
Maintaining hope, no longer a soothing ointment.

 

Laurie Rosen is a lifelong New Englander. Her poetry has appeared in One Art: a journal of poetry, Gyroscope Review, Oddball Magazine, The New Verse News, The Inquisitive Eater: New School Food, Zig Zag Lit Mag, and elsewhere. Laurie was nominated for a 2025 Pushcart Prize. She wrote this pantoum before rage took hold and put an end to her melancholy.

Eric N. Peterson is from Atlanta, Ga. He’s been drawing cartoons all his life. He leans towards the absurd, imaginative, and the surreal, as that’s where all the flavor is.