Vox Populi

A curated webspace for Poetry, Politics, and Nature with over 20,000 daily subscribers and over 8,000 archived posts.

Naomi Shihab Nye: Bees Were Better

I studied bees, who were able
to convey messages through dancing
and could find their ways
home to their hives

April 20, 2024 · 5 Comments

James Crews: The Poetry of Connection and Joy | A Conversation with Michael Simms

My husband is a farmer, so we often wake up before first light, and I go off on my own with a big cup of coffee to scribble in my notebook for a few hours.

April 19, 2024 · 10 Comments

James Crews: We Are Constellations

So much coexists in the heart’s container,
as in a carved teak bowl on the table.

April 10, 2024 · 4 Comments

Naomi Shihab Nye: Jerusalem

He’s painting a bird with wings
wide enough to cover two roofs at once.

November 26, 2023 · 21 Comments

Mosab Abu Toha, et al: Ceasefire Cento

Each morning
I wake
in the shape
of an ancient
song

November 13, 2023 · 11 Comments

Naomi Shihab Nye: Little Farmer

how right he was about slowness,
the path of sunlight through leaves,
how dirt has always befriended me,

September 5, 2023 · 16 Comments

Robert Service: Compassion

For God knows it is good to give;
We may not have so long to live,
So if we can,
Let’s do each day a kindly deed,
And stretch a hand to those in need,
Bird, beast or man.

March 10, 2023 · Leave a comment

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.

February 19, 2023 · 17 Comments

Video: “Kindness” by Naomi Shihab Nye

In this short animated video, Naomi Shihab Nye reads her famous poem “Kindness.”

February 6, 2022 · 2 Comments

Naomi Shihab Nye, Michael Simms & Friends: Poets for the People of Gaza

Naomi Shihab Nye, the current Young People’s Poet Laureate, and poet Michael Simms gather international poets to share works that navigate themes of identity, displacement, and home in Gaza.

July 1, 2021 · 8 Comments

Naomi Shihab Nye & Michael Simms: Writing Prompt # 6 | Dear Vaccine

As we enter our new lives
will we remember
the faster we moved
the sicker we got?

March 27, 2021 · 5 Comments

Angele Ellis: In Lebanon, 2000 June

It was the summer the Israelis withdrew, leaving
behind
a landmined no-man’s-land of phosphorus orange groves,
blighted with white like the kingdom of the Snow Queen.

September 16, 2020 · 4 Comments

Video: Rouba’s Manifesto

“If you want to change the world, make your life about others. And everything will come back to you.” — Dr. Rouba Mhaissen

July 26, 2020 · Leave a comment

Chris Hedges: The Miracle of Kindness

Take a brief journey through the eyes of American Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges to Jerusalem, Gaza, and Iraq, and discover the sacred bonds that make us human.

January 15, 2020 · 5 Comments

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