Michael Simms: Elderberry Magic
In the Native American tradition, the elder is sacred. The soft whistling song I often hear in the branches has been heard by others as well. Elder’s long association with wind instruments suggests that the magical sound comes not from the wind but rather from the tree itself, as well as any instruments carved from elder branches.
Video: Indigenous Elders Predicted Climate Crisis. Will Native Voices Finally Be Heard?
Indigenous communities are among the most vulnerable to climate change, yet they still struggle to be heard by governments around the world. Their spiritual teachings might help civilization to change course and prevent disaster.
Baron Wormser: Ghosts
All the chatter about “family values” presupposes that women pick up whatever difficulties they are faced with and go forward with a happy, maternal smile. Seduced and abandoned does not exist in such an aggressively wholesome universe.
Pablo Neruda: Ode to Summer | translated by Wally Swist
Summer, red violin,
clear cloud,
a buzz
saw
or cicada
Adrienne Maree Brown: Murmurations | Returning to the Whole
To heal ourselves, we must remember that we are a small part of a much greater whole.
Abaki Beck & Rosalyn LaPier: For Indigenous Peoples, Abortion Is a Religious Right
For thousands of years, reproductive health care has been an important part of Indigenous peoples’ cultural practices, which include religious rituals, sacred rites, and the right to abortion.
Mike Vargo: Delusions
I cannot help imagining René Descartes as a comedian. The surviving portraits show a polymath with a prominent nose and a sly smirk, as if to say “Heard this one?” … Continue reading
Kathryn Levy: The Story of Apples
They peered at the apples
in the Apple Museum, or the half remembered
pictures of apples.
Michael Simms: Mary Jo and Aline
Mornings they loved best
sitting over long breakfast
light slanting over them
Bhikshuni Sama: Without Argument
When I was young, my mother told me that I would find true happiness only in marriage.
Anne C. Fowler: Talking with the Other
The opportunity to spend vast expanses of time talking with people with whom you strongly disagree, about the very issue you disagree on, is an unusual privilege, I would even say, a luxury.
Ruth L. Schwartz: Love Letters from the Late Edge
two women, neither of us young, one of us frankly old,
walking our joy like a large animal
around a city lake
Rachel Hadas: The Seeds
My former student sent me six or seven
little homemade packets—folded paper
labelled and taped. Inside each packet
she’d tucked a few heritage seeds:
squash, lettuce, kale, peas, more I am forgetting.
Robert Walicki: The Ride
I thought my grandmother was a badass
after arm wrestling me for a pack of Swedish fish.
