“If an agent submits a manuscript written by a gay transgender Caribbean who dropped out of school at seven and travels around on a mobility scooter, it will be published” – Lionel Shriver, author of “We Need To Talk About Kevin,” arguing that even if a book is “incoherent, tedious, meandering and insensible, “it will
The Yellow Violet – by William Cullen Bryant When beechen buds begin to swell, And woods the blue-bird’s warble know, The yellow violet’s modest bell Peeps from the last year’s leaves below. Ere russet fields their green resume, Sweet flower, I love, in forest bare, To meet thee, when thy faint perfume Alone is in
A boil of hatred festered in the heart Of our Great Pumpkin. When it burst. It spewed putrescence on all parts Of our sad nation. Then bad came to worse: The MAGA Hatters rallied, and they cheered When poor George Floyd was crushed to death, and jeered When black folks rose in protest. His last
Last Night I Dreamed The Strangest Dream Last night I dreamed the strangest dream I ever dreamed before. I dreamed the world had all agreed To put an end to war. I dreamed I saw a mighty room, And the room was filled with men, And the paper they were signing said They’d never fight
Three Years Later The First Day Nones “He’s crazy,“ Geraut said. He was hunched next to Jannequin, both of them wrapped in their cloaks with their hoods pulled down to their noses, backs against the rough front slats of the cart, trying to doze as the old mule plodded along. Eastertide had come late that
The Woods Remember Close your eyes, listen: Trees are whispering secrets About times gone by.
Hymn To The Sun (excerpt) How manifold it is, what thou hast made! They are hidden from the face (of man). O sole god, like whom there is no other! Thou didst create the world according to thy desire, Whilst thou wert alone: All men, cattle, and wild beasts, Whatever is on earth, going upon
Short Horror Story The last person on Earth sat in a room. There was a knock on the door. Shorter Horror Story The last person on Earth sat in a room. There was a lock on the door. – Harlan Ellison. 1934-2018
Peace Spring is warm and wet. It’s raining on the army. Chrysanthemums bloom.
SOCIALISM I agreed with every principle Bernie Sanders advanced during his presidential run, and I was sorry when he dropped out. But I wasn’t surprised. He was elected to the Senate as a Democratic Socialist, and the majority of Americans have always been leery of socialism, because it sounds like a sneakier form of communism.