Edward Harkness: Two Rondeaux
Each time we kiss, love, it’s the first kiss.
The others? Gone. Some I well recall.
More and more I repeated myself. Even this
note to sparrows, willows, summer and fall.
Matthew J. Parker: The Era of Idiocy
I did over a decade in jails and prisons because a squad of Pence-like puritans felt it immoral of me to get high on anything other than the drooling drunkenness of alcohol, an endeavor not only baldly hypocritical but so too borderline absurd; a worldwide farce manifesting in the militarization of both the cartels and the police, all of which, of course, was and is more great news for arms dealers.
Beth Brown Preston: Still Life with Flowers
Momma cautioned me about the dangers of an artist’s life
when in sixth grade I revealed that I wanted to write poetry.
I painted my first canvas as a high school senior:
“The Breast” — an enormous painting of my bronze right teat.
Julia Conley: Nationwide Federal Order Bars Starbucks From Firing Workers for Union Activity
“Starbucks continues to violate the law in egregious ways, thus requiring a nationwide cease and desist order,” said the general counsel for the National Labor Relations Board.
Fred Shaw: Comfort
Without warning, the busboy died
in his bed after school, the genes of his heart
finished ticking toward failure.
Video: Excerpt from President Jimmy Carter’s Farewell address to the Nation (January 14, 1981)
As the oldest living US president has opted to spend his remaining time at home, laudatory responses come from leaders around the world.
John Gould Fletcher: Lincoln
Like a gaunt, scraggly pine
Which lifts its head above the mournful sandhills;
And patiently, through dull years of bitter silence,
Untended and uncared for, starts to grow.
Video: Robert Wrigley reads ‘American Fear’
In this long poem about the present disfunction of American society, Robert Wrigley ‘tells all the truth, but makes it sing.’
Naomi Shihab Nye: Blood
Homeless fig, this tragedy with a terrible root
is too big for us. What flag can we wave?
I wave the flag of stone and seed,
table mat stitched in blue.
Christine Fair: Triptych
If she had a girl, she wanted her to be pretty-popular-slender-cheerleader.
She got me.
She named me Carol.
Video: Amelia
This film explores the colorful life of the photographer Amelia Le Brun and offers a window into how her past demons and nostalgic childhood memories have shaped who Amelia is today.
Abby Zimet: Please Hurry, There’s A Lot of Dead Bodies. This Is Not Normal
Today in America, “The number one killer of children is guns.”
Etheridge Knight: Apology for Apostasy?
…then shall I
Sing of beaches, white in the magic sun,
And of moons and maidens at midnight.
Jessica Corbett: Report Details ‘Brutal Violence’ Endured by Lesbian, Bisexual, and Queer Women
The scale of brutal violence, legal discrimination, and sexualized harassment these communities face is rarely documented.
