White Whale Bookstore event: Saturday April 6, 7pmET
We are so excited to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Vox Populi, a curated webspace for Poetry, Politics, and Nature. The site was started by Pittsburgh poet Michael Simms as a way to connect with his peers in letters, and what better way to ring in ten years than with other Pittsburgh poets, on a date that also coincides with Michael’s 70th birthday!
Baron Wormser: Vistas
I don’t doubt that somewhere in the United States some class or reading group, as a way of girding their collective loins for the upcoming election, is reading or rereading Democratic Vistas, an 1871 essay in which Walt Whitman surveyed American democracy’s prospects.
Kim Stafford: American Crazy Quilt
John Henry’s hammer ringing
twinkle, twinkle little bombs bursting in air
Toi Derricotte: Invisible Dreams
I have to make a
place for my body in
my body.
Joanne Durham: Becoming Educated
No one spoke
of their exodus, how they fled homes
stolen or burned
Thor Benson: Democrat Flips Seat in Alabama House After Running on Abortion Rights
Democrats see the win in Alabama as a sign that supporting reproductive rights will make a difference in November.
Cristen Hemingway Jaynes: Yurok Tribe Becomes First to Steward Land with National Park Service
California’s Yurok Tribe had 90 percent of its territory stolen during the mid-1800s gold rush. Now, it will be getting a piece of its land back that serves as a gateway to Redwood state and national parks.
Mike Vargo: Truck Drivers Who Hitchhike
I met my first hitchhiking truck driver one morning on a freeway near Columbus, Ohio.
Richard Heinberg: Why AI Must Be Stopped Now
The promise of AI is eclipsed by its perils, which include our own annihilation.
IRENE LYLA LEE: The Future Is Feral—and Climate Resilient
To produce food in the face of climate change, we may need to learn from so-called weeds.
Jianqing Zheng: The Dog Years of Reeducation (excerpt)
When the sampan glides to shore, the bird lands back on the shoulder of the rowing girl while lotus leaves whisper in the morning sunshine.
Tony Gloeggler: Honestly
I’ll place a bowl of Cheez-Its
in her lap, drop a Milk Dud
or Jordan Almond, spoon melon
into her mouth.
Patrick Henry: How Dorothy Day found her calling while fighting the 1918 flu pandemic
Dorothy Day’s nine months as a nurse at the height of a pandemic that killed 50 million people, deepened her commitment to the poor, homeless and abandoned.
Brenna R. Hassett: The Evolution of the Human Pair Bond
Despite our very human flair for variety and adaptation, most societies around the world set a pair-bonded couple at the heart of how their members reproduce.
