12minds.com

When the last living thing
has died on account of us,
how poetical it would be
if Earth could say,
in a voice floating up
perhaps
from the floor
of the Grand Canyon,
“It is done.”
People did not like it here.

So it goes.

Variations on the Word “Sleep”

I would like to watch you sleeping,
which may not happen.
I would like to watch you,
sleeping. I would like to sleep
with you, to enter
your sleep as its smooth dark wave
slides over my head

and walk with you through that lucent
wavering forest of bluegreen leaves
with its watery sun & three moons
towards the cave where you must descend,
towards your worst fear

I would like to give you the silver
branch, the small white flower, the one
word that will protect you
from the grief at the center
of your dream, from the grief
at the center. I would like to follow
you up the long stairway
again & become
the boat that would row you back
carefully, a flame
in two cupped hands
to where your body lies
beside me, and you enter
it as easily as breathing in

I would like to be the air
that inhabits you for a moment
only. I would like to be that unnoticed
& that necessary.

Margaret Atwood

In a lot of respects, I feel like Palin is just a horrible choice as a VP nominee, running mate, and – from a broader perspective – a face for the new generation of the Republican Party. While many my hail her speech last night, I found it spiteful and full of venom. Say what you will about Obama, but he can speak and he can make us think of a better America. It’s supposed to be about We, the people.

I have a lot of friends who are community organizers. They go out there and they teach people how to be better Americans. How to be heard. How to participate. How to stand up. One would think that groups of people teaching others how to stand up for themselves would be applauded by the Republicans, but instead they are the brunt of a cheap joke.