Some More Poetry

The Great Superstition (Sonnet) | Abhijit Naskar | Little Planet on The Prairie

Delightful Poetry On Thursday

Just click the title to read more about the poet and the poem.

In a Grain of Sand by Jesús Papoleto Meléndez

To see a world in a grain of sand …
—from “Auguries of Innocence” by William Blake

We are Starseeds
every one of us –
you & me,
& me and you
& him & her,
& them
& they
& those
Who know of this
     are truly blessed …

True for all
   living beings,
beings living –
not humans only,
but ants & trees
& the open breeze,
things that breathe
air or fire,
water, earth
   all kinds of dust
& dirt,
particles
a part of all,
all a part
  of
Everything
that is
in everything;
Thus, it Sings!!!
& its song
is Life,
    & Life
                                                                          is!!! …
a seed of Stars,
the dust of Suns
& Moons
rocks & dust
& outer smoke
  in outer space
Floating
in a bath of timelessness,
   counted, measured
numbered
by some species –
others caring not;
Science & Mathematics
   trying to plot
    Poetry in motion,
Motion
in a Helix’s curve,
And Life
on Earth
becomes visible
to You
through the naked I!

Wed.AM Poem

As always, please click through to learn more about the poem, and the poet.

The Talking Coconut by Ed Morales

Sunset at Luquillo wetlands
Brings the biting flies
As night sky caresses
The murmuring sand

El coco que habla
Me preguntó, cowrie eyes smiled
About the twilight Idlewild
Donde llegó mi papá

He said he was Elegguá
But was wise to front Changó
At parties, in the bodega
Where he had to let go

And declaim the colonial critique
Of privatized electric chic
The long hours spent sweating
The centuries of remembering

Surplus avionetas in northward flow
Slow danced mainland passage
Loss of original language
Nostrand is no place to go

When the jíbaro dance
In the Caborrojeño
Spelled the death of the docile
Somnambulant bugaloo

The coco could only
Speak in tongues freely
The babble of the balneario
Espíritu of the coíony

The décima ringing
Spirit called Lavoe
Alchemical singing
Breaking bad flow

Changó outside,
Elegguá down low
The crossed flag of Lares
Always lets you know

I Just Had To-

Close to Home by John McPherson for December 10, 2024

Close to Home Comic Strip for December 10, 2024

Peace & Justice History for 12/10

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorydecember.htm#december10

Update to the hate bombing of a book about inclusion. Thank you Randy for sharing this with us

Sunday Poetry

Please click the link below to read about this poem, and the poet, too.

A Casualty List Mary Carolyn Davies

There was always waiting in our mother’s eyes,
Anxiety and wonder and surmise,
Through the long days, and in the longer, slow,
Still afternoons, that seemed to never go,
And in the evening, when she used to sit
And listen to our casual talk, and knit.
And when the day was dark and rainy, and
Not fit to be abroad in, she would stand
Beside the window, and peer out and shiver,
As small sleek raindrops joined to make a river
That rushed, tempestuous, down the window pane,
And say, “I wonder what they do in rain?
Is it wet there in the trenches, do you think?”
And she would wonder if he had his ink
And razor blades and toothpaste that she sent;
And if he read much in his Testament,
Or clean forgot, some mornings, as boys will.
But always the one wonder in her eyes
Was, “Is he living, living, living, still
Alive and gay? Or lying dead somewhere
Out on the ground, and will they find him there?”
She closed her lids each night upon that look
Of waiting, as a hand might close a book
But never change the words that were within.
And when the morning noises would begin
A new day, and a young sun touched the skies,
Again she woke with waiting in her eyes.

But that is over now. She does not read
The lists of casualties, since that one came
A week or two ago. There is no need.
She’s making sweaters now for other men
And knitting just as carefully as then.
There is no change, except that as she plies
Her needles, swift and rhythmic as before,
There is no waiting in our mother’s eyes,
Anxiety or wonder any more.

This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on December 7, 2024, by the Academy of American Poets.

Meet Nick Dumont: the Oppenheimer Actor Comes Out as Trans, Updates Pronouns

The actor shared the new name and pronouns in a major gender update to TMZ.

By James Factora December 6, 2024

Nick Dumont, the actor who played Jackie Oppenheimer in Oppenheimer, has come out as transmasculine and nonbinary.

As first reported by TMZ on Thursday, the actor recently changed their pronouns and name on their Instagram bio. Though their handle is still @emmadumont, their name is now listed as Nick Dumont on their profile, and their pronouns are listed as “they/them.” Their bio includes a collection of heart emojis that appear to correspond to the lesbian and nonbinary flags, as well as the phrases “Carmy coded,” as in the main character from The Bear, and “McCutcheon apologist,” as in the polarizing anti-hero Shane from the original L Word. Now that’s a transmasculine nonbinary Instagram bio if ever we’ve seen one.

Though Dumont has changed their pronouns and name on their Instagram profile, they have not yet directly posted about their coming out to social media. A representative for the actor told TMZ that they identify “as a transmasculine nonbinary person.” “Their work name is still going to be Emma Dumont, but they will go by Nick with friends and family,” the rep said. (snip-MORE)

https://www.them.us/story/nick-dumont-oppenheimer-comes-out-trans-nonbinary-pronouns