Wortley Clutterbuck
Take heart
Ukraine! Your flag of cerulean blue
and sun-gold says sky’s the place
where the improbable reigns: clouds
and things with wings. Who’d have
imagined such a fertile
thirst as sky?… Read more
When life gives you lantern flies, make honey…?
When I first heard of the honeydew honey, inspired and conspired
by the pesky lantern fly, my first thought (clearly not the best thought)
was of a cliched “honey to-do … Read more
Lockdown October 5, 2022
now on full lockdown
this is not a drill
Snapchat erupts with unfounded rumours
sadistic humors
we churn like a cumulus
count death with a calculus
huddle in a corner… Read more
Happy Meals & Unhappy Times
an abecedarian
(interrupted by two nuggets / two fries)
on happy meals & unhappy times
/ what happens when mcdonald’s nuggets are nothing
more than a reminder that lists (& … Read more
Hurricane Ian: For Those Falling or Broken
The top of the moringa tree planted
when we first moved here twists
horizontal as if scribbled against
darkening sky by … Read more
Eu não falo português
Tonight
for the first time
in my life
I watch and wait
for the presidential
election results from Brazil
Eu não falo português/
I don’t speak Portuguese
relying on those … Read more
On Morality’s Many Prepositions and Propositions / We Are Committed to Resist and to Persist
Written to commit Mona Eltahawy’s words and work to memory
We are
More Than what’s
on/of/in
our beds
& the hues
on our heads
More Than what’s
between/amongst/within
our limbs… Read more
Trickle Down Man
I’m trickle down man, pleased to meet you I’m sure,
If you’re suffering from poverty my life is your cure;
The more you give me the better for you,
Sounds … Read more
“No contracts, No Matisse!”
“No contracts, No Matisse!”
state then stream the striking workers,
decibel levels consistently increased
neither pastel chalk
nor paint – watercolor or oil
can suppress the toil
Matisse well known … Read more
The Only Place They’ve Ever Known
When some decide to not evacuate,
referring to those souls who have a choice,
in war or weather leaving up to fate
preferring God or luck to have a voice … Read more
Relentless Ian
He makes his way
over miles of ocean
gathering strength
looking like a threat.
Bold landfall in Cuba
slices off the power,
leaves families homeless
his eye aimed at the … Read more
My Body Cries Out
My arms crossed to stop the
Bubbling cesspool of blood
After the attacks on my soul
My body cries out in protest.
Hours go by in mindless pallor;
My heart … Read more
Fifty minutes to sunset
they appear down the hill onto his land. Sticks metal pipes M16
no faces just eyes intent piercing the air. He held onto his hoe
the … Read more
To Zhina Amini
That day
a tired voice asks her
to free herself, dance under the city’s
weary sun.
She sings silently for freedom
and lets her beauty shine
across Tehran’s grey streets.… Read more