Bless this house
built by many hands
holding together one generation after another
Light incense to elevate
its collective memory from dusty stairwells
and attics
Keep fresh flowers on tables
to give neglected alcoves the color
of imagination
Bless this house with water
to see ourselves clearly reflected on windows
because every room
is a living organism
that requires upkeep and restoration [Read more…]
Here is Ursula K. Le Guin (October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018, R.I.P.) accepting the National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters at the 65th National Book Awards on November 19, 2014. In her remarks she notes that
We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable – but then, so did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art. Very often in our art, the art of words.
TRAUMA
(Inspired by the women of the Armenian Genocide who were tattooed by their captors).
The body remembers
contusions the epidermis forgets
Recounts kisses
forcibly sealed within lips
Carry’s the weight
of wounds
time hastily erases
Feels the blunt force
of each hand
tied behind back
Bleeds internally
until the needle of a voice
punctures skin
with the name of the transgressor. [Read more…]
I threw the cross into water
to drown the acolyte nailed into wood
by priests of an encrusted religion
so I might live
The relic
raised from shrouded seabed
by hands of swimmers
was a burden lifted from my shoulders
An epiphany of vision
poetry read
in every face
[Read more…]
By Thomas Ultican / Tultican
Author Steven Singer shares a hoary story that has become a national crisis. Unlike a Steven King novel, this book, Gadfly on the Wall, is not a fantasy. It is impossible to overstate the damage being done to America and its children by the greedy, the self-centered and the stupid. They are set on destroying free universal public education in America.
Billionaires be wary, Singer says he is ready to kick your sorry asses.
Many people were disheartened when Donald Trump became president and installed an evangelical who despises public schools as Secretary of Education. Her agenda seems to be ending public education and creating a system of government financed Christian schools. Here, I really love Singer’s attitude. He says:
“We lived through administrations that wanted to destroy us and actually knew how to do it! We can take Tiny Hands, the Bankruptcy King any day! This is a guy who couldn’t make a profit running casinos – a business where the house always wins! You expect us to cower in fear that he’s going to take away our schools. Son, we’ve fought better than you!”
I first met the author of The Gadfly on the Wall at Chicago’s Drake Hotel almost three years ago. Educators, parents and others were arriving for the National Public Education (NPE) conference. The Drake’s lobby waiting area is at the top of a short flight of stairs next to the room where hi-tea has been served since the 19th Century. It was here that I met Karen Wolfe from LA, Larry Profit from Tennessee, Singer from Pennsylvania and many others. [Read more…]
The arctic air
condensed spoken words
into fog
The sedentary froze
in chairs
[Read more…]
The table is set
An imaginary feast prepared
Bottles
emptied into glasses
until gardens go to heads
It’s midnight
when dreamers are lashed from sleep
alone [Read more…]
Snowmen
scratch through windows
with stick fingers
pluck ornaments from eyes
Break into houses
with broken promises
shovel coal down throats
they can’t swallow
[Read more…]
By Anna Daniels
Editor Note: So here’s some good news in 2017–a Federal judge declared Arizona’s ban on Mexican-American ethnic studies unconstitutional. The legal battle took seven years, which goes to show that sustained resistance + access to legal remedies = progressive wins. The following article was published in 2014.
If you can ban one book, why not ban a whole bunch of them? Back in 2012 the Tucson Arizona public school system embraced the more is better approach when it eliminated the Mexican American Studies Program from the K-12 curriculum.
The LA Times reported that “The Tucson school board voted to end the program after Arizona’s education chief had ruled the district in violation of a controversial state law banning classes designed for a particular ethnic group or that “promote the overthrow of the U.S. government.” The Tuscon school district stood to lose $14 million in state education funds, which no doubt squelched a more robust debate on the topic of intellectual freedom and education.
As the year end approaches, it’s seems natural to reflect on where we’ve been, where we’re going and why we are here. Ferlinghetti has given us one perspective with his “I Am Waiting” from A Coney Island of the Mind. [Read more…]
It was the week before Christmas
and all through the house
there wasn’t a sound
‘cept for that damn mouse.
Then out in the garden
there arose such a clatter,
I shuffled out in my bathrobe
to see what was the matter! [Read more…]
I was here
before anyone called me San Diego
Before Cabrillo
named me San Miguel
and declared me a Spanish possession
Before the Kumeyaay and Yuman
found sustenance
along my mountains and shores [Read more…]
