Judith Alexander Brice: Fledgling Times
The leaves are burnished still,
yet many
bear shades of fall— hints of
ocher, carmine, umber-wheat.
Doug Anderson: Anonymous from the Han Dynasty
What a relief to sit by the waterfall
and let my mind go like this, each thought
a bubble rising from the bottom of a pond
Gerry LaFemina: Collection
In my life I’ve gathered maybe five perfect rocks. It isn’t that they were smooth or handsomely speckled with rare minerals. No, they were often misshapen, pitted, easily forgettable.
Tom Engelhardt: State of Chaos
Do I sound extreme? I damn well hope so. We’re in a gridlocked, post-election moment of previously unimaginable extremity in an increasingly over-armed, ever more divided country…
Jeffrey Harrison: The Light in the Marsh Grass
we gave up trying to explain it, gave ourselves
to it—as if we had ingested some hallucinogen
that opened our eyes to what was there all along
Lawrence Ferlinghetti: I Am Waiting
I am waiting for my case to come up
and I am waiting
for a rebirth of wonder
Rebecca Gordon: In a Looking-Glass World, Our Work Is Just Beginning
For the last four years, Donald Trump has made war on the people of this country and indeed on the people of the entire world.
Lu Aya: Poems to get out the vote
In times of unprecedented destruction, these poems encourage all people to get out the vote as an act of love.
W.S. Merwin: Another River
he arrived just as
an evening was beginning and toward the end
of summer when the converging surface
lay as a single vast mirror gazing
upward into the pearl light
William Butler Yeats: The Wild Swans at Coole
The trees are in their autumn beauty,
The woodland paths are dry,
Under the October twilight the water
Mirrors a still sky…
Ariel Dorfman: Sending Trump to Hell
For some time now, I’ve wanted to send Donald Trump to Hell. I mean this literally, not as a figure of speech. I want him to inhabit the palpable, sensory Hell that religions have long conjured up with scenes of sulfur, damnation, and screams of perpetual pain from those who once caused grievous harm to their fellow humans.
Abby Zimet: In the Name of Humanity, I Am My Mother’s Savage Daughter
Since the 2016 election, over 15 million teens have turned 18 and and can now vote; this year alone, 4 million more can vote, and another 15 million will become eligible for the 2024 election.
Ed Bieber: Cleverness
Nature is the master here: boundless, unpredictable,
full of astonishments. The children come next. I follow.
Tom Weis: History Will Damn Trump & Co. for Betraying the Vision of Our Founders
Healing begins with putting Trump’s exhausting psychodrama behind us and getting back to loving and caring for one another as Americans.
