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Wednesday, December 2, 2020

We The People

are remembering our name
waking up & taking what was always promised us
but never was intended to be ours

we the workers / we the renters
we the women / we the youth
we the houseless / the illegals
the unemployed / the disillusioned
we the Black Lives / we the Natives
the believers & the cynical
we the unsung / we the fire-keepers
the visions of our ancestors
& seeds of generations yet to come

repairing our wounds / shining our light
changing our face / demanding our rights

we the people who work double-shifts
we the people whose loved ones are jailed
we the people who are jailed for the sake of our loved ones
& deported & tortured / evicted & starved

we the people who built all this wealth
for men who said “We the People”
but meant only themselves

we the teachers / we the students
the troublemakers & the truants
we the squatters / we the dreamers
we the marchers / we the movement
we the rebels / we the rabble
we the damned & we the saved
from Atlanta to Seattle
come to claim the deal we made

we the nurses in the fire
we the maids & uber drivers
we who've always been essential
realizing our potential

       We the People in Order to form
       a more perfect Union in the eye of the storm
       establish Justice in the land of slaughter
       insure Domestic Tranquility from those who poison our water
       provide for the Common Defense beyond wars
       promote the General Welfare beyond prisons
       & secure the Blessings of Liberty
       to ourselves & our Posterity

do ordain this new Generation of the Free
& establish our Constitution

for these lands
from sea to sea

Saturday, September 19, 2020

This is the Year (2020 / 5781)

 “Relent, O Lord! How long will it be?

Have compassion on your servants.

Satisfy us in the morning with your mercy,

that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,

for as many years as we have seen trouble.

May your deeds be shown to your servants,

your splendor to their children.

May the beauty of the Eternal our God rest upon us;

and establish the work of our hands for us –

Yes, establish the work of our hands.”


– Psalm 90



This is the Year (2020 / 5781)


And this is in fact the year that our apocalypse begun

This is the year the veil has been ripped from off our eyes

The year the sound of truth breaks through the endless din of lies


This is the year the souls of those we love who have been taken

form a spirit legion pushing all the living to awaken

This is the year the sick and weak become our strongest fighters

in the struggle for a vision of a world set to rights


And this is in fact the year thousands of squatters will take over

houses from the big developers, who themselves are the true homeless

For anywhere we lay our heads becomes a kind of home

as anywhere we share our love we find a sweet oasis


It is written:


As they pass through the dry valley of Baca,
it becomes a place of springs, the autumn rain fills it with pools 1

But those who serve the gods of property have not a homeland

who turn the fertile valleys into deserts for their gain


God sets the lonely in families,
leads out the prisoners with singing;
but the wicked live in a sun-scorched land 2


and mock God openly with lies and climate change denial

while the seas fill up with hurricanes and the west coast drowns in flames


This is the year that everything collapsed / and in its ruin

The people rose to pose the problem / being truly human

From Kenosha to Atlanta to the ravaged streets of Portland

The God of Moses coursed through us to liberate this poor land


This is the year that poems become riots and vice versa

The year we see our warriors have always been our nurses

This is the year that Black Lives Matter more than high end stores

and the year the people realize we've always been at war


And the officers with consciences see how they must resign

or plan to kill more innocents while openly aligning

with the ones who prey on children / practice human sacrifice

O, this is a year too terrible for any poet to write


And this is a year no novelist could properly describe

And a year that no comedian could fully satirize

For there's nothing more ironic or more twisted than the truth

When Reality TV is our new form of fascist rule


This is the year the king gave his most eloquent abuses

On July 4th from the feet of the Black Hills carved into faces

This is the year the genocide reserved once for the Natives

Turns against the mass of people who are running out of savings


O God, do not remain silent;
do not turn a deaf ear,
be not still, O God!


See how your enemies roar,
how your foes rear their heads.
With cunning they conspire against your people;
they plot against those you cherish.
“Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation.” 3


Yes, this is the year of our worst fears / deeper each morning

And this is the year no theory guides / but scriptures give us warning

How the wicked stop at nothing to take everything they can

How their words become a noxious spell that spreads throughout the land


Their mouths lay claim to heaven,
and their tongues take possession of the earth. 4


But this is the year the psalmists and the prophets did predict

When they spoke of the abundance and the downfall of the wicked

This is the year their statues start to vanish overnight

as the angels of rebellion bring God's world into sight


And the bronze that formed the likenesses of slave-trade profiteers

will be wound around the strings guitarists strum year after year

as they sing the stories of these times with imagery so vivid

like Asaph in David's choir, who wrote these words of the wicked:


Surely you place them on slippery ground;

you cast them down to ruin.
How suddenly are they destroyed,
completely swept away...


They are like a dream when one awakes;
and so when you arise, O Lord,
you will despise them as fantasies. 5


This is the year the floodwaters of centuries burst forth

and the bloody rivers of our history pour back to their source


This is the year the Lakota set up check points at the Rez

to make it clear they are a people who won't be massacred again


This is the year the fires of our dignity ignite

despite the armies of their fear / This year day breaks the night


Look! Our God is coming out of hiding,

coming down and treading on the high places of the earth!

The mountains melt beneath and the valleys split apart,

like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope. 6


This is the year


Every valley shall be raised up,

every mountain and hill made low 7


This is the year


The Eternal law comes forth from our dear cities

and from the land the Spirit speaks

to settle all the bitterness of man


This is the year


They will hammer their swords into plowshares

and their spears into sickles

Nation will not lift up sword against nation

nor study war ever again 8


This is the year of all these things

And every year to come, we'll sing:


O God, when you led your people,

when you marched across the chaos,

the earth shook, and the sky poured down rain

at of the coming of the God of Justice,

the coming of the God of Freedom,


You caused abundant rain to fall

and restored your worn-out world,

and your people made a home there;

from your bounty you provided for the poor.







9

1Ps. 84:6

2Ps. 68:6

3Ps. 83:1-4

4Ps. 73:9

5Ps. 73:18-20

6Mic. 1:3-4

7Isa. 40:4

8Isa. 2:3-4

9Ps. 68-:7-10

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Elegy for Private Property

 A moment of silence for Macy's

This broken shell of a luxury store

On the once Magnificent Mile

The windows are shattered

The clothing racks ransacked

The lavish apparel apparently ravished

And broken glass down every aisle


A moment of silence for Gucci

Our dearly beloved brand now so defiled

An ave for Louis Vuitton

Whose purses went rolling

Like heads of French monarchs

A requiem for Nordstrom whose shoes have been torn from

The shelves and are sadly all gone


A moment of silence for Apple

Whose iPhones and Macbooks were savagely plundered

In one night of chaos and sin

And Best Buy, and Walgreens

And even poor Potbelly's

And Block 37 and 7-11

All victims of senseless break-ins


Of course these were criminal actions

And we will indict and convict and lock up

These hoodlums who dared to transgress

Look, here are the pieces

Of an ATM, broken,

And all the cash registers seem to be stolen

So clearly this wasn't protest


Although, there is some speculation

That some of these high-end shops may have been targeted

Like some kind of raid on the rich

But that doesn't matter

(Much like the young man

Who may or may not have been shot by police)

Now a prayer for Abercrombie and Fitch...

Monday, June 8, 2020

Which Side (2020)

George Floyd called for assistance
And was murdered on our screens
The cop's knee pressed against his neck
Now people round the earth are screaming

Which side are you on? Which side are you on?

Don't talk to me about looting
Or any other crime
You're either with Macy's and Target
Or standing for Black Lives

Which side are you on? Which side are you on?

At the statue of Columbus
Downtown on Columbus Drive
Cops beat and tear-gassed us protecting
That monument to genocide

Which side are you on? Which side are you on?

If we just ended poverty
Why would we need police?
When food is scarce, prisons are plenty
But without justice there's no peace

Which side are you on? Which side are you on?

Eyes on the Prize (2020)

Eyes on the Prize (2020)
Adam Gottlieb
George and Eric cried “I can't breathe”,
We say their names as we take the streets
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on
Without justice, there's no peace
Abolish prisons, defund police
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on
No more human sacrifice,
Sack the system and honor life
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on
This time we won't compromise
We'll make them respect Black lives
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on

Hold on, hold on, 

Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on.

Freedom riders bound in jail,
buses coming like ships set sail;
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on
Water Protectors took the water’s bite,
on that cold November night;
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on
Got my hand on the freedom plow,
wouldn't take nothing for my journey now;*
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on
Those of us that they don’t need,
they won’t house, educate or feed;
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on

Hold on, hold on, 
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on.
Well the only thing we did wrong
was stay in the wilderness for too long;*
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on
Well the only thing we did right
was the day we started to fight;*
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on
We are saved when we believe
if one is chained than none are free;
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on
The only chains that we can stand
are the chains of hand in hand;*

Hold on, hold on, 
Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on.


* traditional verses

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

nursery rhyme


this world sucks.
so let's make a new one.
you & me both baby
(you can come too, son)
we could be new, love
we could be
princes or princesses poets
(we already prophets) you know it /
we got this / it's obvious /
kinda like seeing stars or knowing what God is / yo...
aint it all this? cosmic as honesty
(but that's just theology / i'm off topic)
we should all share,
like we used to in preschool
it just seemed fair - i help you, you help me. cool.
isn't it simple? isn't it just like – duh –
like oh yea, that's right / that makes sense / word uh huh
we can figure it out / fly planes without pollution /
put the robots to work / that's the damn revolution!
it ain't really that scary - change the game / then we're done
all that stands in our way: is these mofos with guns
but we know they're just pawns of the mofos with dough
the bankers / big oil / & big CEOs
& there's only so long they can fool the masses
into settling for crumbs while still kissing their asses
so... we gotta get out there
& spread the good news
it's humanity's birthday / our cake, planet earth
let's choose to share it this time & take care of it better
learn the lesson / remember /
wisdom of the ancestors
& we'll drink lemonade & dance on the roof
(& you can write poetry & i'll cook some food)
& we'll play all day long & sleep all through the night
or do whatever we want to do
(that's the point right?)

Thursday, April 16, 2020

Holy Week (2020)

On Holy Wednesday
(which was also the first night of Passover
and the Sleepless Night of Shab-e-barat)
in the middle of the great pandemic
Bernie Sanders announced
he was conceding his run for President
and as we cried into our breakfast
the pigeons on our back stoop
were finishing their nest

On Holy Thursday
(the Day of the Last Supper)
vast fields of tomatoes, squash, and green beans
rotted in the Florida sun
and prisoners in Cook County Jail
after losing a second brother to coronavirus
posted signs in the windows of their cells reading
Help, No Supply and We're Dying
and the Labor Department reported
over 6.6 million Americans
filed for unemployment in one week
and a pop-up pantry in L.A. drew a mile-long line of cars
and the President repeated his call for the country to reopen in early May
(despite the virus claiming a new life every 47 seconds
and the number of us who have been tested remaining well under 1%)
and on Capitol Hill, senators failed to agree
on a second round of COVID-19 relief
and meanwhile, on our stoop
in the little nest tucked behind the red sneakers
under the shelter of the rolled up carpet
leaning against the brick wall
we found a little cream-white egg

On Good Friday
(the day of the crucifixion)
Manhattan's Mount Sinai Hospital abruptly did not partner
with Evangelical charitable organization Samaritan's Purse
to set up nine medical tents for overflow patients
in the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine, as planned
telling news outlets they were reprioritizing resources
(though it may have had something to do with the ongoing controversy
around the Trumpian relief group's anti-gay statement of faith
and the church's plan to hang a Pride flag over the doors of the Cathedral)
in any case the field hospital was not set up
and we sat on our stoop and prayed outside with the pigeons
(the large gray male during the day
who hopped off the egg and sat on the wooden railing cooing
– to draw our eyes away from the nest? –
and the small dark female who sat on her egg
quietly during the night shift)

On Holy Saturday
(the day there was no God on Earth)
another egg appeared

And on Sunday,
as the Pope gave his Easter homily
to an empty St. Peter's Basilica,
and everyday folks around Chicago
brought food and set up pop-up kitchens
for tent encampments around the city
(cooking steaks and frying chicken wings)
and a new squatter house opened up in our neighborhood
and calls for rent strikes and rent freezes went viral on the web
and Emily and Dan celebrated the arrival of a new house puppy

You and I awoke with spirits renewed
(having wept and laughed through the night before)
and ate waffles for breakfast
and afterwards sat outside and again prayed with the pigeons
that their eggs would safely hatch
and the squabs live to fly

for the courage it takes to place faith in new life
and guard our vision of the good world
that we'd like to give to our children
and for the contagion of hope
to catch from heart to heart
faster than the virus
faster than the fear

for a victory that does not bypass suffering and death,
but passes through them,
opening a path in the abyss

transforming sorrow into joy
and slavery into freedom



Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Crisis and Hope: A Writing Workshop



Theme: Coping with (the COVID-19) Crisis

Guiding Question: What blessings, possibilities and hopes are emerging amidst the grief, fear and anxiety of the coronavirus pandemic crisis? (Or another crisis)

Brainstorm:
  • Where have you spent most of your time in quarantine? What have you been doing with your time?
    • (Describe it in detail: List the physical surroundings: What do you see, hear, smell, taste, touch?)
  • What has been new, different, interesting, or surprising about this time for you? (Try to include things that have been difficult as well as things that have perhaps been new or different in a positive way).
    • For example:
      • On the difficult side: I have been feeling very sad and existential, especially when I hear the news; I have been worried about my parents; I have been anxious about how I'll be able to afford rent, I have been anxious about how to serve vulnerable members of my community like the homeless; it was really hard for me when John Prine, one of my favorite musicians, died from COVID-19; it has also been really hard for me to not touch my face and it seems to be itching more because of it
      • On the positive side: It has been nice to sleep in, I've had more time to read books and write music, I've caught up with old friends all around the world, and I'm spending more time with my dog, etc.
  • Who have you been thinking about during this time? Who are you thinking about now? (List as many different people, specific individuals and groups, as you can think of).
  • What ideas, hopes, prayers, or visions have been on your mind or in your heart?

Examples:
  • "Ode to a Pandemic" by Adam Gottlieb [below]
    • What is an "ode"? (Explain difference between modern "odes" and classical "odes") Why write an "ode to a pandemic"?
    • Note the "zooming out" motion in the poem's voice
  • "Prerequisites for Preservation" by Naima Penniman (see link)
    • This poem was written several years ago, long before the COVID-19 crisis. Do you feel the poem has something to say to us now, in this current crisis? If so, how does the poem seem to speak to this moment? 
    • Note the use of the anaphora (repetition) "We're gonna need." How is this form working for the poem? (What effect does it have?)

Write: 
  • Write a piece that reflects on the nature of this historic moment, for you personally and/or for the world. 
    • Remember our guiding question: What blessings, possibilities and hopes are emerging amidst the grief, fear and anxiety of the coronavirus pandemic crisis?
    • If you're not sure what to write about, look over your brainstorm list, choose an image or idea that stands out to you, and start writing about that.
    • If you're not sure how to start, consider modeling one of the examples. You could write an "ode" to the pandemic, as in Gottlieb's poem. Or you could use the line "We're gonna need" or a similar phrase of your own choosing, as an anaphora, as in Penniman's poem.


ode to a pandemic

From the couch on which I sit
with a pug dog on my lap
beside my window on this wet gray day in Chicago,
to the folks along the highway in their tents, trying to sleep,
to grandmothers in nursing homes, whose hands ache for a hand

To the doctors, nurses, paramedics,
electricians, transit workers, plumbers, pharmacists, firefighters,
farmers, cashiers, ambulance drivers, grocers, cooks, food deliverers,
water systems operators, warehouse workers

To folk in Rome, Beijing, Madrid, Johannesburg, New York,
San Juan, Baghdad, Seoul, London, Rio, Mexico City,
Moscow, Cairo, Sydney, Buenos Aires, Tokyo,
Delhi, São Paulo, L.A., staying home from work

Everywhere we are together
and everywhere alone
Bored, or anxious, talking on Zoom,
washing our hands, watching the news

Every day our deaths are tolled
and stories go untold
Too many lives to weep for
(Who would weep but for their own?)

And yet, which deaths are not for me
to mourn as I would family?
Has not our sense of separateness
been wholly overthrown?

(The evolutionary origins of viruses are unclear
The only fact on which we can agree, they say,
is that they are primordial, ancient as life on earth itself,
integral to the universe, keeping it intact...

And aren't we all as small to God
yet vital to the earth?)

And from each harsh and personal death
affirming the union of our shared breath
is not humanity being born
though it is a painful birth?

Monday, March 30, 2020

ode to a pandemic

From the couch on which I sit
with a pug dog on my lap
beside my window on this wet gray day in Chicago,
to the folks along the highway in their tents, trying to sleep,
to grandmothers in nursing homes, whose hands ache for a hand

To the doctors, nurses, paramedics,
electricians, transit workers, plumbers, pharmacists, firefighters,
farmers, cashiers, ambulance drivers, grocers, cooks, food deliverers,
water systems operators, warehouse workers

To folk in Rome, Beijing, Madrid, Johannesburg, New York,
San Juan, Baghdad, Seoul, London, Rio, Mexico City,
Moscow, Cairo, Sydney, Buenos Aires, Tokyo,
Delhi, São Paulo, L.A., staying home from work

Everywhere we are together
and everywhere alone
Bored, or anxious, talking on Zoom,
washing our hands, watching the news

Every day our deaths are tolled
and stories go untold
Too many lives to weep for
(Who would weep but for their own?)

And yet, which deaths are not for me
to mourn as I would family?
Has not our sense of separateness
been wholly overthrown?

(The evolutionary origins of viruses are unclear
The only fact on which we can agree, they say,
is that they are primordial, ancient as life on earth itself,
integral to the universe, keeping it intact...

And aren't we all as small to God
yet vital to the earth?)

And from each harsh and personal death
affirming the union of our shared breath
is not humanity being born
though it is a painful birth?