January, 2022
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Miscellaneous
Exactly what the concept of miscellaneous is needed for as reflected by the range of subject titles to the right.
Organizational Affiliations
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” — Helen Keller
ORGANIZATIONAL AFFILIATIONS
External Links & Websites
• Emerald Hollow
• Jewish Voice for Peace
• MAPA – Racial Justice & Indigenous Solidarity
• Move To Amend
• MPAOC
• Native Land Conservancy
• Orleans Conservation Trust
• Progressive Democrats of MA
• Unconvention
• We the People
Sports Writing
When the game is afoot, I find the field of sports to be a great source of inspiration and entertainment.
SPORTS WRITING
The Chief
This is where I share stories of a man of magnificence, a person of power, and a character I call The Chief. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcan_Society
Travel
Many travel books and travel videos are immensely well done, although no amount of reading about or videos of the pyramids at Giza or a village in India can compare to the overwhelmingly physical and sensual experience of being there.
My travel writings all seek to convey something intimate about the setting I am describing, to capture the “feel” of a unique place on the planet as experienced at a unique point in time by a unique narrator briefly passing through.
Coyote in the House
coyote strolls into the house,
on a balmy night
after the rains have ended,
a night remembered for the sound of crickets
and coyote’s toenails|
tap tapping on the wooden floor.
coyote smells everything,
old newspapers,
the knitting,
the bowl of fruit she finds
with one paw up on the counter,
when she also notices me –
having hoped for mice,
or duck pate –
and instead gotten human.
then, so as to detain her briefly,
i slide the door closed,
holding in her beauty,
as moonlight breaks through the cloudy night sky,
a ban on nuclear weapons is announced,
health care is guaranteed to everyone as a fundamental right,
palestinians and israelis form one democratic state,
music appreciation classes are funded and returned to the curricula of public schools,
and a symphony orchestra of children under twelve
serenades our congress
while coyote walks round my bedroom,
squatting to pee near the bookcase,
as i pull the quilt up to my neck
and fall asleep
trusting in dreams
Poetry
- 99 Gratitudes in 3 Minutes – A Yoga Chanting Poem
- A Poem is Born
- After The News
- Alan
- Alan Is Dead
- American Wedding, 2011
- Ask the Sphinx – 2 approaches
- Baggage Claim
- Beach Plum Jam
- Beau Dies
- between spiders
- Burnt Wood – for Bubi
- Call it what it is
- Conversation With A Ladle
- Coyote in the House
- Crow’s Song
- Day break
- Death Factories
- Death of the Dolphin
- Furry Bug
- Gospel of the Redwood
- Insects in Amber
- It: In Honor of Dr. Seuss
- Journey to Standing Rock
- Kevin Garnett in Africa
- Life among the barbarians
- Long ago, perhaps yesterday
- Mandalay Hills
- Mesquite Dunes
- Miles’ Ashes
- Miles’ Journey
- My First Yoga Teacher
- One Drop of Rain
- Salton Sea
- Self Love
- Sunrise
- The Love Life of Clams
- Throwing Away
- Uncle Sol
- What The Stones Say
- when spring arrives ice flows out of the bay
- Whispering Among The Gods
- Willow
- Winter Fog
- Work and Love are What Really Matter: a reunion poem for the BHS class of 1958 reunion
Poetry
Beach Body by Publius Ovidius Naso
Mane erat: egreditur tectis ad littus; & illum
Moesta locum repetit, de quo spectarat euntem,
Dumque moratus ibi; dumque, Hic retinacula solvit,
Hoc mihi discedens dedit oscula littore, dicit:
Dumque notata oculis reminiscitur acta, fretumque
Prospicit; in liquida spatio distante tuetur
Nescio quid, quasi corpus, aqua; primoque, quid illud
Esset, erat dubium. Postquam paulo appulit unda;
Et quamvis aberat, corpus tamen esse liquebat;
Qui foret, ignorans, quia naufragus, omine mota est;
Et, tanquam ignoto lachrymam daret, Heu, miser, inquit,
Quisquis es, & siqua est conjux tibi! fluctibus actum
Fit propius corpus. Quod quo magis illa tuetur,
Hoc minus, & minus est mentis. Iam iamque propinquae
Admotum terrae, iam quod cognoscere posset,
Cernit: erat conjux. Ille est, exclamat: & una
Ora, comas, vestem lacerat: tendensque trementes
Ad Ceyca manus, Sic, o carissime conjux,
Sic ad me, miserande, redis? ait. Adjacet undis
Facta manu moles: quae primas aequoris iras
Frangit; & incursus quae praedelassat aquarium.
Insilit huc: mirumque fuit potuisse; volabat:
Percutiensque levem modo natis aera pennis,
Stringebat summas ales miserabilis undas.
Poetry
- 99 Gratitudes in 3 Minutes – A Yoga Chanting Poem
- A Poem is Born
- After The News
- Alan
- Alan Is Dead
- American Wedding, 2011
- Ask the Sphinx – 2 approaches
- Baggage Claim
- Beach Plum Jam
- Beau Dies
- between spiders
- Burnt Wood – for Bubi
- Call it what it is
- Conversation With A Ladle
- Coyote in the House
- Crow’s Song
- Day break
- Death Factories
- Death of the Dolphin
- Furry Bug
- Gospel of the Redwood
- Insects in Amber
- It: In Honor of Dr. Seuss
- Journey to Standing Rock
- Kevin Garnett in Africa
- Life among the barbarians
- Long ago, perhaps yesterday
- Mandalay Hills
- Mesquite Dunes
- Miles’ Ashes
- Miles’ Journey
- My First Yoga Teacher
- One Drop of Rain
- Salton Sea
- Self Love
- Sunrise
- The Love Life of Clams
- Throwing Away
- Uncle Sol
- What The Stones Say
- when spring arrives ice flows out of the bay
- Whispering Among The Gods
- Willow
- Winter Fog
- Work and Love are What Really Matter: a reunion poem for the BHS class of 1958 reunion
A Poem is Born
A poem is born
By describing what is sensed or seen
And never saying the word it
Without describing what “it” is.
Admiring yellow squash flowers
Among the riot of purple morning glories
In the gardens which greet the day.
Crows standing pensively
Rocking back and forth on their toes
In black wing tipped dress shoes
Hands intertwined behind their backs
Engaged in a familiar dialogue
About roadkill
The harbor
And their diving neighbors the cormorants.
Transplanting small sprouting vegetables
Who convey their gratitude for soil and love.
After a demonstration at the bank
Calling for corrupt lenders
To hold very long meetings inside federal jail cells.
After yoga, and music,
And even an unwelcome creeping sense of paranoia
That emerges of its own accord
And leaves the station on its own schedule.
At the end of a good day,
A present day,
Where pain and stiffness are at a minimum,
The mail is taken to the post office,
And you approach life and death with hands raised high
In the universal sign of surrender.
Welcomed home
By the lover you’ve awakened
Eating pumpkin pie made with home grown pumpkins
Roasted seed, and ginger.
.
Poetry
- 99 Gratitudes in 3 Minutes – A Yoga Chanting Poem
- A Poem is Born
- After The News
- Alan
- Alan Is Dead
- American Wedding, 2011
- Ask the Sphinx – 2 approaches
- Baggage Claim
- Beach Plum Jam
- Beau Dies
- between spiders
- Burnt Wood – for Bubi
- Call it what it is
- Conversation With A Ladle
- Coyote in the House
- Crow’s Song
- Day break
- Death Factories
- Death of the Dolphin
- Furry Bug
- Gospel of the Redwood
- Insects in Amber
- It: In Honor of Dr. Seuss
- Journey to Standing Rock
- Kevin Garnett in Africa
- Life among the barbarians
- Long ago, perhaps yesterday
- Mandalay Hills
- Mesquite Dunes
- Miles’ Ashes
- Miles’ Journey
- My First Yoga Teacher
- One Drop of Rain
- Salton Sea
- Self Love
- Sunrise
- The Love Life of Clams
- Throwing Away
- Uncle Sol
- What The Stones Say
- when spring arrives ice flows out of the bay
- Whispering Among The Gods
- Willow
- Winter Fog
- Work and Love are What Really Matter: a reunion poem for the BHS class of 1958 reunion
A reflection on the absence of agreed upon priorities and leadership on the Left
My focus is on organizing ourselves … the Rainbow Left … at this writing … specifically in the lands and with the blessings of the Massachusett and Wampanoag and many more Indigenous people who we owe a debt to and who lead us still.
Who speaks for and to the Rainbow Left nationally? Brother West? Rev Barber? The Abolish Prison and Prison Slavery movement? Bernie? Rise Up? The Squad? Bill Fletcher?
Who speaks to or for the Rainbow Left in MA? Jamie? Jo? Nika, Ayanna? Mahtowin Monroe? Big Mike, Jim McGovern?
We MUST be able to decide on our priorities, on where we can best direct our forces/resources at this critical moment.
There is no single organization on the left that doesn’t want more active volunteers. We all think about recruitment.
My focus is on organizing ourselves. Land back!
