Doug Anderson: Vulnerable
It is winter now and also, for me,
the other winter that has no spring.
Our world has turned dark
and fascists have risen from their graves.
Michael Simms: Scarf
The old man and the blonde woman smiled and waved at me, and I felt a surge of gratitude to be among such decent people in this lovely city in a dark time when the light of kindness seems so rare.
Sally Bliumis-Dunn: Work
The father sanded the gunwales,the boy coiled the lines.
And I admired them there, each to his task
in the quiet of the long familiar.
Thom Hartman: How America Broke Up With The Democratic Party
Many grassroots Democrats separated from their party in the 1990s, and the 2020 election may be the last chance to save the marriage.
Video: I Quit The Black Eyed Peas. Then They Became Famous.
Kim Hill was a rising singer. She met a young rapper named will.i.am. As their group became famous, she had to make a decision about what kind of performer she wanted to be and how she wanted to be perceived as a woman among men.
Kristin Henderson: A Feminist Alternative to Trump's Chest Beating on Iran
If there’s ever to be genuine and just peace between the two nations, diplomacy must be the priority, and Iranian civil society must be acknowledged and respected.
Rebecca Gordon: What’s Wrong With the Republicans?
The roots of much of the turmoil in the current Republican Party are centuries old. They go back, in fact, to the twin crimes that have helped shape this country from its very beginning: slavery and imperial expansion.
Michael Simms: Here are the most popular Vox Populi posts of 2019
In 2019 Vox Populi published 751 posts, usually two per day, resulting in over 8 million views. Here is a list of our most popular posts in 2019 listed by category: poetry, personal essays, political articles, and art/music/cinema.
Charles Davidson: A World of Surprises
The craft of creativity is far more formidable than comprehensible. We become infinitely more dependent upon what we do not know than upon what we know.
Angele Ellis: Wonderful Life
We are halfway between Bedford and Pottersville:
the kindness of community, the chill greed of despair.
Video: Pioneer Axe
Filmed in 1964 by the Maine-based photographer and filmmaker Peter Vogt, Pioneer Axe documents the forging of fine axes at Oakland’s last operating workshop, Emerson & Stevens, just months before it, too, was forced out of business.
Philip Terman: Darwish and Amichai Share Poems in Heaven
the breath of their words
shaping the winds
across the deserts
of their homeland,
which is the same homeland
Deborah Bogen: Season of Light — and of Darkness
If you happen to meet someone for whom the season of light is a reminder of a dark time, of a sorrow or a loneliness, take a moment and sit with them, let them be that dark. Believe in their sorrow as you believe also in joy. Believe in them.
Jim Daniels: Waking Nightmare, 2019
Wilting in the face
of true evil, unprepared for the torn-up rulebook,
the pissed-on rulebook, we pouted on the sidelines…
