Eva-Maria Simms: Muzot in Winter
A scholar and translator makes a pilgrimage to the Swiss castle where Rainer Maria Rilke finished the Duino Elegies and received the gift of all 55 Sonnets to Orpheus.
Chard deNiord: The Music of Being
Hold a hazelnut up to your eyes
as a lens for seeing through,
then wake to a katydid and say its name.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Frost at Midnight
Therefore all seasons shall be sweet to thee,
Whether the summer clothe the general earth
With greenness, or the redbreast sit and sing
Betwixt the tufts of snow on the bare branch…
Three stories: People fight the system and win
A farmer prevails against Monsanto in court. Refugees find ingenious ways to scale Trump’s wall. And 100 cities around the world provide free public transportation everyday for everyone.
Frida Berrigan: “We Get to Live in the Mayor’s House!”
Running for Office in the Age of Donald Trump and Climate Change
Ellery Akers: We Have the Power to Pull Back from the Brink
I call fire.
And fire answers with its flaming mouth
and strange whining pronunciation
as it clears the underbrush
Michael Simms: The Democratic Field Narrows to Three Candidates
Although the Iowa Caucus was an epic fail, it did make a few things clear.
Paul Christensen: When the Ice Won’t Melt
It’s one of those diamond-bright days of early winter, with the ground ringing like iron when you walk on it.
Sharon Fagan McDermott: Orchid Room, Phipps Conservatory
Grandma lived to be ninety-three
and wore the fabric of that tale to a soft sheen
with her retelling. Where does the past lie?
Erin McCarley: An Open Letter to the DNC From an American Centrist
I respectfully encourage the DNC to abandon its corporate allegiance, re-configure its membership and shift into alignment with the will of the people.
Jason Irwin: Smoke Rising
Back then to see dark clouds of smoke
rising above the housetops meant that God, in his wisdom and mercy,
was still on our side.
Ralph Nader: It Should Be Easy to Defeat Trump, But Corporate Democrats Look Ready and Willing to Blow It
Trump should be the most defeatable president in history.
Abby Zimet: RIP Fresh Water and Life on the Planet
Trump’s bold plan to poison his own citizens in the name of corporate pandering came after a Davos trip where he bad-mouthed mean Greta Thunberg and other “prophets of doom” who “want to see us do badly,” and praised Elon Musk, “one of our very smart people, one of our great geniuses,” who “does good at rockets.”
Walter Bargen: Which brings us to one certainty. . .
can you tell me the colors
sweeping the sky this evening,
can you tell me exactly the volcanic-ash
effects, the drought and dust effects,
the shift of light along the spectrum
