Yesterday/Today
Yesterday I was reading a history of Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan In one of the chapters The author noted that during the war The US thought of the Japanese As…
Poem of the Day: Epigram #11 by Ernesto Cardenal
I’ve handed out underground leaflets, Shouting Long Live Freedom! in the middle of the street Defying the armed guards. I took part in the April Rebellion: But I grow pale when I pass by your…
Simple Words
Give back my father, give back my mother; Give grandpa back, grandma back; Give my sons and daughters back. Give me back myself. Give back the human race. As long as this life lasts, this…
Yours Truly
I am your older, calm, sutra-reading uncle I am your younger, mischievous Tequlia-drinking uncle I am your biggest fan I am your sounding board for the unutterable I am your archivist I am your remembrancer
With the Gazans
Palestinians in short do not deserve anything like a narrative or collective actuality, and so they must be transmuted and dissolved into essentially negative images. —Edward Said, From Oslo to Iraq and the Road Map:…
On Ryōkan
The following was written about Japanese Zen Master Ryōkan by a friend… When Ryōkan visits it is as if spring had come on a dark winter’s day. His character is pure and he is free of…
Next Share the Wealth with Sara Rendell: “And Yet “. . .Lessons Learned and Unlearned in Med School
As my airplane sliced the sky over the Atlantic Ocean heading from Burkina Faso to the US of A, I asked myself two questions: How has West Africa changed me? And, how will medical school change me? Looking…
Numbers
for Hedy 45 phone calls on 8.15 82 guests at birthday party 1948 arrival in USA 5 attempts to reach people in Gaza 2 grand-daughters 20+ years working fair housing 1982 wake-up call 2 parents…
Presence
I had a shrine for a while A photo collage of the greatest hits of your life I meditated on it on those bright desolate winter days Your effervescence somehow emanating from the black and…