Country

Honestly

 Science is being halted in its tracks.
        — Dean Schillinger

“Science is being halted in its tracks.”
The right wing’s exasperated by the truth;
being free to lie means the … Read more

Tremors

After my Thursday night routine of a six-pack,
I’d steadied my nerves for a morning with pencil
pushers in my office, where the cleaning crew
had taken odds, as if … Read more

State of a Union

An Abecedarian in Support of Labor

almost instantaneously, anchors across the nation
broadcast updates as Biden, in a UAW baseball
cap, walks the picket line to
demonstrate solidarity with labor … Read more

Smile

I was amazed, stunned, stupefied

To see her at last, hanging there.

But: so small, so puny when I was

Expecting something immense, larger-

Than-life, fit for her worldwide

Reputation, … Read more

Arboricide Song

A man with an axe called to his accomplices
from beneath the flow of night’s dark tap;
a bird screamed, a lyrebird. It flew into a tree,
up to where … Read more

Saunasphere

It’s so hot, your brain sounds the alarm—
orders your body to pump water
from interior reserves,
hydrants in the blood, muscles, kidneys,
and brain itself—through dilated vessels
to the … Read more

Vibrant face of depression

Dead Poets Society (1989 film): Public Domain

Another flick, a spark
once more awakened the past
Illustrating memories
are alive and always last

I recall your visage with
its veins, … Read more

Life Is Like Moon

For Mahsa Amini and the Woman, Life, Freedom movement in Iran

Life is Jina
Jina is Mahsa —

the full circle of light
witness to struggle

Say her name—

The … Read more

Morocco 2023

The Khamsas fall in Moroccan halls
As spirits fly away and mourners pray
Marrakech feels God’s fearful fist
Atlas quakes,
Riads break,
And solace cries
beneath rubble slides
Where missing … Read more

Remembering the Day

Howard Stern was on the radio then, obscenity
for everyone – or was it just reality
in language we could understand? Until a plane

broke through the punchline
to a … Read more

The Old Banyan Tree

Scorched, but still standing
the media said of the massive tree
in the heart of Lahaina after fires
blazed through Maui so swiftly, the sea
offered the best chance of … Read more

Precious Gemstones

  • by

Precious stones held a symphony
In the darkness of the sky.
Music played all around.
Gemstones cut by God above,
Impressive to the naked eye.
The stars glittered for all. … Read more

Climate Change

Jogging uphill
during the first week
of Spring I pick a scene
for you:

native frangipani,
nasturtiums, no, freesias
out of verge-grass thick
with honey;

bees worry
fireweed left behind… Read more