Culture

  J.K. Rowling’s Response to the Assassination of Charlie Kirk If you believe free speech is just for people with whom you agree, then you’re illiberal, and trust in your infallibility. And, if new facts get vilified before they’re heard, then you have missed the awful truth that deep inside,...

Unjust Trade   I. An endless wet: Earth’s gathered sea-salt tears Wept-swept before a rising, darkening gale, As dim horizon fades and disappears Behind a slave ship’s squared tri-masted sail. Her hold full-filled with human suffering, With chain-torn flesh sustained by lice-laced gruel, To serve the needs of cotton, cane...

. When Helen Keller Met Mark Twain ---a poem about America Date: November 2, 1934, Place: New York City: Madison Square Garden after Helen Keller delivers a speech honoring the Salvation Army. An old reporter recognizes one of the attendees. You flatter me! It’s rare I’m asked to speak. I’m...

. The End of Fred the Thief ---based on various news reports Twenty-eleven was the year When they put Fred the Thief to death So that the tourists in Cape Town Might in more safety draw a breath. A wily gangster throughout life, With some four hundred of his kind,...

  And These Two Despots Smile “where organs switch one human to another, where one stays live, and one’s a discard donor.” —Damian Robin While walking side by side at the huge military show, dictators Xi Jinping and Putin, talking to and fro, were caught on a hot mike, discussing...

  St. Philip Neri “Go take a hike out passed the Catacombs of St. Callistus. Celia once was there. Cornelius is and other Popes in domes of ancient stone. Inhale the olive air. Then buy a chicken from a chicken-farm and bring it back to me the way you came....

.   Bleed, Saxon Blood "Þær wæs sang || and sweg samod ætgædere, fore Healfdenes || hildewisan; gomenwudu || græted, giomaenes spell, cwæð þonne se scop, || sumeres þegn" “Then there was song and music together, before Hrothgar’s battle-leader; the harp sounded, the joy-wood’s voice, when the scop sang afterwards.”---Beowulf...

. Old School ---for an elite British boarding school The rooves are dark and lichen-strewn and damp,the window panes are flecked with drops of rain;a summer downpour’s welling while the stampof lightning flash and thunderclap engraintheir image and their sound. The chapel bellis chiming out the quarter hour, which bringsthe...

. We Love You Charlie Charlie, Charlie, Charlie We’re so sad to see you die. Sorry, Sorry, Sorry Couldn’t even say goodbye. Heaven, heaven, heaven Is where you are I’m sure. Evil, evil, evil Is what we still endure. Hatred, hatred, hatred Has left its mark on Earth. Goodness, goodness,...

. Utilization Another person’s misdeeds or their flaws,Are rarely pleasant sights when they are shown,But I try making such ordeals the causeOf seeing and disposing of my own.. . Superiority Although superiorityMay lead to trophies on your shelfOf greater import is to beSurpassing of your former self. . . Knowing...

. Monsoon in the Jornada _Months of unwavering stillness, _Parched powder seared by the sun, Pitiless taunts from New Mexico sky, _Tenuous cloud-wisps undone _By defiantly static surroundings _As summer’s assurances wane; Skittering deer mice seek lifegiving shade, _Blearily thirsting for rain. _Jornada del Muerto they called it— _Conquistadors dogged...

. The Pentagon Panama Plan A place in turmoil—Panama_In nineteen eighty-eight—Was where the strongman Noriega_Was busy tempting fate. The Pentagon felt like a dreamworld_Where fantasies were made.Years later the 9/11 plane struck_That office where I’d stayed. Lieutenant Colonels stationed there_Were often called “gophers.”We'd go for coffee, go for errands,_Go find...

. Free Won’t ---Hypothesis in a 2007 study in the Journal of Neuroscience Perhaps it’s false, about “free” will—_A myth we hold as true.What happens when we’re ruled by lust?_“Free” will is ballyhoo. Perhaps instead, we have “free won’t.”_We logically decide;Think “No” to impulse or desire,_Then reason is our guide....

. Michael Michael, heaven’s handsomest, most decorated strategist and highest-ranking officer, having vanquished Lucifer was faced with long-term unemployment. Seeking worthwhile redeployment, this veteran of celestial strife settled for civilian life: as mainstay of the Heavenly City, he now directs the Doom Committee. Hence, before the judgement seat in his...

. In the Name of Whose God “If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through...

. La Vie en Rose  I came across that daft old ditty “Tiptoe Through the Tulips”And wondered why its lyrics didn’t rhyme “tulips” with “true lips.”I’ve learned, you see, that botany brings great linguistic power---Like formulating works which vaunt the lilac and sunflower!Now, had that song been mine I would...

. The Vile Monkey and the Patient Buffalo ---adapted from a Jataka tale of India A powerful old buffalo Once ranged the Indian countryside. Over the rolling hills, in cool Dark caves and tangled woods, he plied. One day, he found a tree where he could rest And for a...

. Blood, Sea ---after Italo Calvino Beyond the blight of urban sprawl, About six hundred yards from shore, A pod of fishing vessels trawl The coastal waters. Sea gulls soar And dip above the crack and spall Of massive piers in search of gore And kitchen scraps. Crustaceans crawl Along...

. On Charlie Kirk and His Assassins Make people think. Engage them in debate. Allow them to articulate with reason The things they think. Defuse their unearned hate And gently guide them back from wrath and treason. Show Christian love and yet an iron hand. Be patient with them, they...

. Why She Broke Up with Him Not long before their college graduation, His bright and beautiful four-year girlfriend, With no more than a sudden conversation, Brought their long-happy romance to an end. The guy was devastated, and shut down. He absolutely could not fathom why, Though he’d be leaving...

. Thy Servant Elizabeth _“Well-done, unswerving servant,” _All the church bells rang _On all the roads of England, _While all the angels sang _Above the long procession _That formed her funeral; _The car conveyed her body _As her Christ assumed her soul. _In clashing grief and triumph, _The strong-voiced, iron-tongued...

. Black Holes Some say the universe is full of holes That suck in all that is. At warp-speed, gone. One wonders where was space-time goes. Like souls, perhaps, through portals to some wide-eyed dawn. Or through a trap door dumped below death’s hell No speck escapes, no world, no...

. Prefab Tabernacle They placed their prefab tabernacle there Between the supermarket and the gym And come each Sunday, clad in activewear, From force of habit, happenstance, or whim. But there’s no place for saints nor seraphim Within Eternity’s wan waiting room, So distant from that disconcerting tomb; Just folding...

. Ned's Bad Day The gear that he intended was reverse,But to his detriment, he put the carIn drive. At least he didn't get too far;And all in all, it could've been much worse. The only other "victim" was a tree,A pine that Ned had scraped along the side.He'd peeled...

. Meddling A pair of cardinals build a Maytime nest outside my home, deep in a boxwood tree. My window bids me peek, watch them progress: their secret ways we can so rarely see. Three one-inch eggs, so bluish, speckled-quaint. The female broods, orange-beaked beatitude. Now two have hatched, begin...

. Hypnos Wraiths of twilight-conjured mist: At last, a prospect of release. Come child, keep our nightly tryst. To you, the wakeful weariest, _I bring unconscious peace. Steal softly past your unlaid ghosts, Ignore the creaking of your stair, Embrace the nightmares you dread most; Your time has come to...

. Surviving the Cultural Revolution Why should this tourist want to take my picture? I’m just a woman who is very old--- He photographs me as I sweep the streets And gather trash to justify my rice. What could I tell this foolish, shallow man Whose camera records but cannot...

. At Brown University, 14 August 2025 It is a fitting name, at least, For every building that I see Is carved from this old color, like Some wise and sprawling, kindly tree. It’s island academia, Amidst a bustling Providence; I sit upon the quad, in thought Of hues that...

. Band of Brothers A picture of two soldiers in their prime. A scribbled note in cursive on the back. “My Dearest Son, if ever comes a time When I am gone, whatever you may lack Or need, just phone this number. When you do, Just tell the man who...

. Coming Attractions (1994) Black is white, white is black, two and two is three. Put your common sense away, all you need is me. I’m the soothing voice, the calming face on your TV. Let me settle all your fears, all you need is me. I’ll raise you up...

. Listen Britannia! Listen Britannia! All ye who would never be slaves. Hear the word of the Lord, He who rescues and saves, _For they who won't hark will dwell in the dark, __And will slump under rule of the knaves. Listen Britannia! Shed all your shackles and chains. All...

. A Rant . I. Pay for a surrogate to birth you a kid. Feed it on formula falsely construed. Drop it in daycare for hours on end; shunt it to public-school where it’s imbued with half-truths of History and little lies fostered by doctors deluded or dumb. The Mission:...

. When Prices Surge What happens to the prices when demand outstrips finite supply? Well, you’ll be darned to know that unlike all those years ago (when playing fields were level) for a show, to watch a band like Queen, the cost was set at just ten quid---you’d not end...

. Gull Pacing the parapet hungrily eyeing papers and plastic cups in the dust, her kin overhead, wheeling, crying, watching their chance to steal a crust. Floating down from the gable roof, landing nearby with a busy hustle, sidling close but warily aloof, her breeze making papers gently rustle wings...

. Shackled I crave a morning hit when I rise up, A trifle touch to take the edge away To spur me on to get my coffee cup. Don’t talk while I eat breakfast. Go away. I want a bitty bit of my sweet drug. I do my chores and...

. Farewell Colbert Late-night TV, when it started, didn’t have a path yet charted, but had teams of wise advisors who knew they’d need advertisers. Advertisers wanted viewers, who demanded interviewers that could make their lives seem brighter, while they sold what made teeth whiter. That became the rationale in...

. News of a Coup The news of a coup hits the headlines. No ears prick to listen or hear. The proof plucked from yesterday’s grapevines Has dried with the last dusty tear Of natives once proud of their history Till tyrants tore roots from their tree In lands where...

. To the Ancient Mariner “O Wedding-Guest! This soul hath beenAlone on a wide wide sea;So lonely ‘twas, that God himselfScarce seeméd there to be.” ---Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner O, Mariner! What pain you felt---The sea would neither freeze nor melt,_As you abjured the Cross!Twixt...

. Uxorious? He tried to guard composure as he pressed the new denarius to his chapped lips and unbecoming tears for noblemen slipped privately to stain his cheeks and bed. “Faustina, death entombs a healthful rest while dolor molds my mood,” his voice had slipped, “but I’ve betrothed your memory...

. Modes of Divination The future’s course, in all of its essentials, Is augured from a steaming heap of entrails. The tea leaves, buoyed by meniscus, Will show you where the greatest risk is. For aging hippies, using the I Ching. Is probably a nearly perfect thing. Astrologers are confident...