Abby Zimet: Gobsmacking Fabulists ‘R Us
For the anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot that almost toppled democracy (more quickly than now), the hacks and crackpots in power have concocted a deranged revisionist history of such “evil,” “pathological,” “Stalin-level propaganda” it’s somehow dragged us even further through the looking glass.
Audio: Danez Smith reads “not an elegy for Mike Brown”
I am sick of writing this poem
but bring the boy. his new name
his same old body. ordinary, black
dead thing. bring him & we will mourn
DeWitt Henry: Forces of Nature | A Dream Retold
In my dream, the poor people, on the contrary, many of who are Korean, have lost everything, all of their children. They have had no warning.
World Wildlife Fund: What is a Wetland?
As much as 87% of the world’s wetlands have been lost over the past 300 years, with much of this loss happening after 1900, despite their value to the human population.
Emanuel Pastreich: Our Unequal Economy Means the US Can’t Quit War
The military buildup is but a transfer of wealth, not an increase in security.
Rosaly DeMaios Roffman: How My Father Does It
Tomorrow, I fly home to teach Prometheus—
that story of saving the universe with fire
and then enduring the eagle punishment
but my raised voice will be for my father
Alan McPherson: A predawn op in Latin America? The US has been here before, but the seizure of Venezuela’s Maduro is still unprecedented
What will preoccupy many regional governments in Latin America, and policy experts in Washington, is whether the White House has considered the consequences to this latest escalation.
Matthew J. Parker: Cruise Missile Policing | The Latest Drug War Hysteria of our Nannies in Chief
So, what’s to be done? Why, educate, of course, and stop running scared.
Diane di Prima: Buddhist New Year Song
it is truth, that we came here, I told you,
from other planets
where we were lords, we were sent here,
for some purpose
Ellen McGrath Smith: Dream, 2025
brown faces falling toward us, arms
and legs dislocated by updraft, indigenous faces we knew from our daily rounds to buy groceries and tacos
Naomi Shihab Nye: Generations
At the end of an unseasonably warm day
New Year’s Eve 2017
I stood in my kitchen holding
one wooden spoon.
Vox Populi: The Most Popular posts of 2025
Since mainland China blocks western media, I was very surprised a few months ago when a flood of visitors from China began clicking on Vox Populi.
Erin Wax: How 12-step programs can help build healthier movements
The 12-step method that began with Alcoholics Anonymous is a form of mutual aid that can help movement organizers take better care of each other.
