Tax Time

 

Winter of our Discontent

Expected snow

but their band of flakes

a no-show

No surprise

This dosey-doe

of cloudless skies

Drumbeat of tax cuts

border wars, coal scat

& plutonium futures

Itki’s undanceable

Unsustainable

An off-key bully boast

Itki's care frozen mid-step

Wisdom in flaming absence

Let’s face the facts, we’re furious

Time for manifesting anger

that makes the floor shake

Calls us out 

to act on

our thwarted socialismo values

Mad as shaggy manes 

busting up

through the White House lawn

Disgust pushes us

onto the Beltway dancefloor

for a little Aztec 

two-step

A tarantella of protests

where outside action comes from 

an inside movement

Outrage that won't stay put

Though, as one Ish Nation poet scribed

putting a hopeful spin to the story

In every good tango

there’s a step backwards 

too

Nevertheless, McRedeye sez

no time for tip-toeing

This ain’t  no ballet

Best be joining 

hands & yes yes

 jumping into the mosh pit

Vernal Equinox

                 Microbes stirring in the soil,

The very air alive,

Crocus and daffodil,

Iris and hyacinth emerging from bulbs,

Rose and lilac with their beauty and scent.

Green fire waking, 

With all the joy  of Persephone

returned from her sojourn in the underworld.

 

Birdsong fills the air again as these angels 

court, mate, nest and search for food,

tickled into wakefulness by light and warmth.

Your cells are laughing too

Let them laugh despite so many woes.

Join with one another in  gratitude and praise.

Of the promise of Spring and of longer, lighter days.

Amy Hannon (aka Amalia Sabatini), Clinton, NJ

OUR VOICES, OUR RESISTANCE!

Judyth Hill of PEN San Miguel de Allende has organized an international presentation of poets from around the world  bearing witness to global struggles, human and environmental. As a member of her chapter of PEN, I'm proud to share my poem, Building Alliances

Building Alliances

“There’s been too many ripoffs for too long”

-Leo Lyyoki

If I had a hammer

& not the one that busted

in my hands as organizers are

busted for planting

trade union pegs

to stretch the corporate tent

A hammer that wouldn’t

buckle under

to repeated blows

Merciless sun baking sidewalks

Tools pushed to their limits

Snapping under pressure

If I had a hammer

forged of the Mother’s fury

yet tempered with love

for all her relations

two-legged four-legged

buried stone or spiraling seed

A hammer shaped to

the will of the people

Nothing could stop us

from driving a nail through

the heart of the beam

to begin the reconstruction

Building alliances

powerful as the wind

that rips a roof to shreds

or sweeps a prairie clean

The order of the reading has changed to:

Iya Kiva: Ukraine PEN ~

 Linda Marie Baros: French PEN

Inga Gaile: Latvian PEN ~

 Pam Uschuk: PEN America

Diane Régimbald: PEN Quebec ~ 

Bana Baydoun: PEN Lebanon

Dragica Čarna Slovene PEN ~ 

Ma Ma Thiri: Myanmar PEN

Cristina Wormull PEN Chile ~

 Arinda Daphine: Uganda PEN

Veera Tyhtilä: PEN Finland ~ 

Anise Jafarimehr for Zeinab Yousefi: Kurdish PEN

Wezi Msukwa-Panje: Malawi PEN ~

 Aziz Isa Elkin: Uyghur PEN

Art Goodtimes: San Miguel PEN ~ 

Stella Nyanzi: Uganda PEN

 

The Quantum Physics of Fame

by Wendy Videlock

who wants small circles

when bigger circles make waves

maybe that’s the point