Sally Bliumis-Dunn: Biology Lesson
I thought I’d be bored
looking at the slide but instead
felt unsettled, as though
something had been taken
Video: Isabella Kirkland | The Beauty of Wildlife — And an Artistic Call to Protect it
Investigating humanity’s relationship to nature, she shares work that takes a creative stand against ecological despair — and quietly urges climate action through permanent images of vanishing wildlife.
Michael Simms: Magnolia
Suppose you held what you love so tightly
you broke it
Suppose you let something slip away
White Whale Bookstore event: Saturday April 6, 7pmET
We are so excited to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Vox Populi, a curated webspace for Poetry, Politics, and Nature. The site was started by Pittsburgh poet Michael Simms as a way to connect with his peers in letters, and what better way to ring in ten years than with other Pittsburgh poets, on a date that also coincides with Michael’s 70th birthday!
Pascale Petit: Hummer
The suitcase I found
on the shelf above his bed, with its jars
of mummified occupants, how I unwrapped
the photo curled around each hummingbird couple
like a sarcophagus
Kim Stafford: American Crazy Quilt
John Henry’s hammer ringing
twinkle, twinkle little bombs bursting in air
Cristen Hemingway Jaynes: Yurok Tribe Becomes First to Steward Land with National Park Service
California’s Yurok Tribe had 90 percent of its territory stolen during the mid-1800s gold rush. Now, it will be getting a piece of its land back that serves as a gateway to Redwood state and national parks.
Laure-Anne Bosselaar: Early Morning Considerations After a Night of Rain
Good morning, welcome, new Thursday. I arc
the blankets away. The dog sheds gladness all
around me as war news shrapnels out of NPR.
Richard Heinberg: Why AI Must Be Stopped Now
The promise of AI is eclipsed by its perils, which include our own annihilation.
Video: Wendell Berry reads his poem “The Peace of Wild Things”
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
IRENE LYLA LEE: The Future Is Feral—and Climate Resilient
To produce food in the face of climate change, we may need to learn from so-called weeds.
Video: How to Cultivate a Healthy Gut Microbiome with Food
Food for gut health: An unhealthy intestinal biome is a major contributor to heart disease and other illnesses.
Jianqing Zheng: The Dog Years of Reeducation (excerpt)
When the sampan glides to shore, the bird lands back on the shoulder of the rowing girl while lotus leaves whisper in the morning sunshine.
Emily Suzanne Carlson: Mother of Pearl
oysters don’t ignore
the “irritant,” they tend to it,
letting it shimmer
