A Poem for Jeff Bezos
When the void was new, its origins were not blue
but a vacuum turned green,
ill with this viridescent epidemic –
we … Read more
Amanda N. Butler
The Courage to Pause. Simone Biles.
Easy to admire the fluid grace
the obedient agile body built with
hours of sweat and striving sacrifice
Easy to overlook the price. Pain
not just the muscle burn and … Read more
INPUT FOR THE HOUSE PANEL ON THE JAN. 6TH INSURRECTION
(an epiphany sans wise men)
Devout
standard-bearers
journeyed, followed their Star.
Believers obeyed its credo.
Proud Boys, MAGA, QAnon.
I AM
the only One,
shined the Star, who is Worthy.… Read more
At the stadium: Nationals-Padres game, 7/18/21
Night fell on us broiling, dense clouds, deep rout
from the other team, beer haze, roasted snacks.
You could say we were ready to come out
to the ballgame, the … Read more
Coronaville
It’s peaceful out here on the ledge, equidistant to outcomes.
The sound of wind has replaced my racing thoughts.
I can breathe.
I can be.… Read more
Down with the Ship
Briton among missing
Miami building collapse
citizen both British, U.S.
scores still missing
stories by the dozen
authorities confirm
12 floors fallen
mother
father
baby Patel
internationalize
America’s decay
(the … Read more
Congressman’s Warning
False systemic fraud
will lead to
blood spilled
— Congressman Pete warns
denouncing such rhetoric
obscene!
dangerous!
“More people will die
of craven propaganda
like this.”
(a digital bird told … Read more
Hem-hawing
I loved the sweet little beachfront condo
where relocated with spouse
to live when our oldest of
three had two children
then when her grown family moved
north from chill … Read more
Russian Spat
London’s lost its manners
Crimean confrontation
The U.K. plays it down
Russia cranks it up
Britain
prepared to sail
Moscow
turbining water warplanes
shots fired
—a warning!
more exercises
calisthenics… Read more
France & Germany Talk Russia
E. U. talks
about talking
to Russia
Frank & Germ
push dialogue
to defend their interests
the Brussels strategy
for continental Europe
reactive logic
don’t fly with Ivan’s Russ
new … Read more
The Pollen Of Life
In the darkness of the night,
a delicate butterfly
sprinkled the pollen of life,
fragile yet sublime,
A celebration took place somewhere
Someone mourned the … Read more
Still, I Rise
Still, I rise above the hot zones
that spread across America, like the heatwave
in the eighties when thirty-two deaths a day
from an act of God was a national … Read more
Old Growth
There is an emptiness to slender trees from which the layer of leaves
They’ve shed has only begun to melt into the undergrowth
Their youth … Read more
The Inheritance
Maybe it was in the genes Banneker inherited
from his ancestors, the Dogon, who, while the houses
of Lancaster and York ravaged the English countryside,
migrated to a southern bend … Read more