Monthly Archives: June 2024

make it stop

Posted on June 30, 2024 by istsfor manity

Memorable Stuff I Read This Week Poetry does not prevent massacres. It cannot undo bombs, snipers’ bullets, mass starvation, sickness. — Trish Salah / “about this poem” / poem-a-day The frequency at which extreme fires occur around the world has … Continue reading →

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wheel… a wheel

Posted on June 29, 2024 by istsfor manity

a bike ride (tanka+) what’s in a bike ride?all of life, if you allow—i’m a wheel … a wheel …syracuse to buffalobuffalo to albany (a wheel… a wheel… a wheel… a wheel) What I’m Reading: Mural mania is sweeping across … Continue reading →

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bark or froth

Posted on June 28, 2024 by istsfor manity

Providential (redux) This town provides: Mothers smile and say hello, Fathers hit fungo to their sons,Families rally around the flag,White picket fences keep others out, Ambulances cruise & never use sirens,Dogs never bark or froth,Pigeons align themselves from pole to pole— On electrified wires. … Continue reading →

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tha’ smoke trees

Posted on June 27, 2024 by istsfor manity

smoke tree summer (haiku) looka’ tha’ smoke trees —pin cushions in summer air —urchins in the sky What I’m Reading: I think we can very confidently now say that every heatwave that is occurring today has been made more intense … Continue reading →

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do we care

Posted on June 26, 2024 by istsfor manity

CHEER UP … … the earth is burning to a crisp as it simultaneously floods with water undrinkable … … election season is upon us … … the planet’s little wars are joining hands … … i got mine, now … Continue reading →

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bated agonal breath

Posted on June 25, 2024 by istsfor manity

Self-Inflicted Dodo Dada (redux) A dusty path toward deliverance after a club on the head, a dark hour, a black age— Quashed then regained. Diverted, re-charted, and reoriented The crags and canyons—vertiginous—skirted. The roiling water. Up ahead the fog-smoke. We … Continue reading →

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rondos of chants

Posted on June 24, 2024 by istsfor manity

[a strange fortune …] a strange fortunethe ministry where they linger—throttle linking (and also separating)belles from godsons (or ankles?)a lovely novitiatethat homely workhouse,that most quotidian of sizzles—the portcullis? what of grandmother porticoes—postage-standing façade of tendonsor is it tom-toms?pasted in plaid … Continue reading →

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dangerous extreme heat

Posted on June 23, 2024 by istsfor manity

Memorable Stuff I Read This Week Returning to the very same place,let it be a hilltopwith a view of the night city … — Tadeusz Dąbrowski / “Hilltop” It is dangerous — extreme heat is the No. 1 weather-related killer, … Continue reading →

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in this (my) neighborhood pt. 69

Posted on June 22, 2024 by istsfor manity

What I’m Reading: forget the calls,errands at the mall —yr resolve’ssuperfluousas a clitoris. — Maureen N. McLane / “Best Laid”

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dehydration set-in

Posted on June 21, 2024 by istsfor manity

end of the trail blues (350-mile tanka) the bombastic sun—humidity oppressive—deadly wet bulb tempsthe dehydration set-inbody gave out in belfast (boston, ma to belfast, me: 350 miles / 11 days) What I’m Reading: nothing is promised, sweet green girlI know … Continue reading →

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