Michael Simms: A note to our readers concerning Vox Populi’s coverage of the war on Gaza
I’ve received a number of complaints that Vox Populi’s coverage of the current conflict in Gaza is one-sided, and I have to admit it is true.
Barbara Hamby: Ode on Killing Sadness
the emcee said at the start
of the evening, “Here we are killing
sadness,” and the music did take the sting
out of the night
Howard Zinn: Thoughts on Civil Disobedience
They’ll say we’re disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war.
Laure-Anne Bosselaar: Brief
It happens so often: there — somewhere
in a line, waiting room or store — I see you,
& it’s something about your work-wrecked
hands, cow-lick, the perfect curl of your lips
Naomi Shihab Nye: Bees Were Better
I studied bees, who were able
to convey messages through dancing
and could find their ways
home to their hives
Emily Suzanne Carlson: Motherhood
I want
the officers to hang their shields
like wind chimes from the plum tree’s
branches.
Alice Friman: Puddles
As if overnight, the flowering pear tree
is flowering. A froth of white.
James Crews: We Are Constellations
So much coexists in the heart’s container,
as in a carved teak bowl on the table.
Phyllis Bennis: Why False Accusations of Anti-Semitism Are So Harmful
Bad-faith smears of Rep. Ilhan Omar and many others are being used to crush Palestinian rights, undermine social movements, and divert attention from real anti-Semitism.
Barbara Hamby: Ode to My Younger Self
You were so beautiful and stupid though you thought
you were smart, and in a way you were,
because you loved poetry and Beethoven and apples
Michael Simms: Magnolia
Suppose you held what you love so tightly
you broke it
Suppose you let something slip away
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
Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer: The Medicine of Surrender
It’s like opening the dictionary
to the word heaven. Or obliteration.
And knowing it’s the same thing.
Joan E. Bauer: The Apple Pan on Pico
When you are seeking greatness, turn to the Apple Pan, a homey 1940s institution imitated everywhere from Duluth, Minn., to Bahrain. — Jonathan Gold, Los Angeles Times food critic, 2013 … Continue reading
