Terry Blackhawk: Chambered Nautilus, with Tinnitus and Linden
Call it a squint of sound,
tone on the edge of not existing at all
Rebecca Elson: Antidotes to Fear of Death
Sometimes as an antidote
To fear of death,
I eat the stars.
Elizabeth Svoboda: Extolling the Virtues of the Hunter-Gatherer Lifestyle
In “Civilized to Death,” Christopher Ryan argues that our nomadic ancestors were better off than we are today.
Ed Bieber: All At Once
After weeks of waiting patiently
for the first dandelion to appear,
we opened our door on a shocking
sea of vibrant, yellow, near-stemless
lion’s teeth.
Jessica Corbett: Court Orders Shutdown of Dakota Access Pipeline
The decision to temporarily shut down DAPL came just a day after two energy companies cancelled the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) that would have transported fracked gas through West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina.
David Adès: Premonitions of Catastrophe
This was not the burning of witches or heretics
but the burning of a continent
Paul Christensen: On Silence
I am possessed of a brooding spirit, some ominous angel who has landed on my shoulders, staring at my ear. It wants to know why I do not understand silence, the poetry of space.
Rebecca Gordon: The Sudden Descent of The United States
Can making Black Lives Matter rescue a failing state?
Miriam Levine: Invisible Kisses
And survivors with numbers tattooed on their arms, straight as a
bookkeeper’s sum,
the ink indelibly blue, unlike the blessedly changing ocean.
Karen Friedland: Two Poems of Gratitude
There’s something to be said
for loving your life,
exactly as it is—
Michael Simms: A Brief History Of Tree Hugging
The first tree huggers were 294 men and 69 women belonging to the Bishnois branch of Hinduism, who, in 1730, died while trying to protect the trees in their village from being turned into the raw material for building a palace. They literally clung to the trees, while being slaughtered by the foresters.
Shoshi Parks: The Shared History of Wild Horses and Indigenous People
Horse sanctuaries along the Native American Horse Trail are working to save America’s last Indigenous horses and rewrite official histories that claim they don’t exist.
Liz Moran: Telling the Bees (for JoAnn)
Your emptiness
depends upon the bees.
Loretta Graceffo: Music is a living thing
We are all your children
If you hear us, join us now
We’re gonna strike because the waters are rising
We’re gonna strike because our people are dying
We’re gonna strike for life and everything we love
