Motto by Bertolt Brecht In the dark times, will there also be singing?Yes, there will be singing.About the dark times. German; trans. John Willett
Wandering around the Albuquerque Airport Terminal, after learningmy flight had been delayed four hours, I heard an announcement:“If anyone in the vicinity of Gate A-4 understands any Arabic, pleasecome to the gate immediately.” Well—one pauses these days. Gate A-4 was my own gate. I went there. — From “Gate A-4” by Naomi Shihab Nye This is the start of a beautiful prose poem worth two minutes of your time to read, and just the kind of thing that I am happy to read today. Read the full thing at Nye’s page at poets.org
The British poet, musician and performer was an incredible voice over 40 for racial justice and as an advocate for all people taking their place in Britain. His version of the Tam Lyn story, retold above in a stunning performance with the Imagined Village Ensemble, is a brilliant and creative arrangement of the old folk tale but applied to the reality of a refugee living in a 21st century British city and asking that his lover hold on to him as all of the power at play throws itself at him to try to have him deported. It’s a stunning …
In Those Years In those years, people will say, we lost track of the meaning of we, of you we found ourselves reduced to I and the whole thing became silly, ironic, terrible: we were trying to live a personal life and yes, that was the only life we could bear witness to But the great dark birds of history screamed and plunged into our personal weather They were headed somewhere else but their beaks and pinions drove along the shore, through the rags of fog where we stood, saying I — Adrienne Rich, 1992, hat tip to Jim My …
The difference between what’s wholeand what’s held, what’s withheldor revealed, what’s real and what’s revelation – that’s what I seek,rest of my life spent in search of little epiphanies, tiny sparks surging out of the brain during the clumsiest speech. – Allison Joseph from Little Epiphanies It feels like that, combing through stories, looking through graphs and charts and frameworks to find the little insights that spark the little actions that spark the little changes that might topple the biggest dragons. (Poem published today at whiskey river)