Karen J. Greenberg: Donald Trump’s Document Grab
A refusal to share information has been part of the Washington scene far longer than the current moment.
Richard Levine: More Light
At any moment, that heron might
slowly unfold its miracle
of flight, and stir the hypnotic tide
of quiet surrounding us
Michelle Bitting: The Great Fire
When plague grips a grand city in its pitch and airless
fist, flames bore holes in flesh that the rats sing
sweetly through.
Travis Lupick: Gabor Maté And The Myth of Normal
Celebrated physician Gabor Maté discusses how our toxic culture is making us ill.
Julia Conley: Book-Banning Efforts Rising at Unprecedented Rate, US Libraries Report
Efforts to censor entire categories of books reflecting certain voices and views shows that the moral panic isn’t about kids: It’s about politics.
Edward Harkness: My Father Meets Margaret Bourke-White 
He finds a Hershey bar
in his breast pocket, offers her a piece.
She flicks her cigarette into the dark,
takes the chocolate and says, Thanks, kiddo.
Benjamin Jensen: Ukraine’s rapid advance against Russia shows mastery of 3 essential skills for success in modern warfare
Ukrainian forces, aided by Western firepower, have upset traditional military logic once again.
Laure-Anne Bosselaar: Infinitives
To dust it — not often enough. To stare at it — too often.
To never open it anymore. Keep his ashes hidden.
Video: The Kites
A girl is playing on the green slopes of a valley in Kurdistan, on the border between Iran and Iraq, when her kite is suddenly swept across the river by the wind. Three boys on the other side see her calling for help, but cannot make out what she is saying: she is just too far away. Separated by the river, the children try to communicate with each other – yet between them lie the explosive remnants of past wars.
Paul Christensen: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Twit
I used to wander around on lower Broadway in Manhattan when I was still a teenager. I had a dead-end job at a valve company taking orders from plumbers wanting a gate valve or oversized coupling for an apartment building going up.
Louise Hawes: My muse at seventy-something
My muse is fast; her legs, long, relentless,
churn like propellers. She seldom stops to
explain where we’re going.
Video: The Restrained Brain
Self-restraint goes hand in hand with the good life. Can brain science help us get a grip?
Abby Zimet: He Who Hath Not A Uterus Should Shut the Fucketh Up – Fallopians 13:13
On a good day for duplicitous zealots peculiarly fixated on controlling women’s bodies, Lindsey Graham, a childless, partnerless ghoul who’s never experienced any pregnancy welcome or not, proposed a nationwide abortion ban backed only by a tiny, rabid minority…
Pablo Neruda: Ode to the Book (II) translated by Wally Swist
stone by stone
the castle of humanity rising
Vox Populi 