How+L
A short poem for dark times.
How+L
How simple a blade of grass.
Seed and sprout and outstretched arm
Roots networked through gaps and cracks
Stalked witness to this armed and frigid day
Stem and root, sheath and blade
Swept up, mown down, raked straight
Straight into the machinery to gum chew their lie
Itching at the ankle of poisoned conscience
Whipping at the faux-denim shins of a thug-faced goon
How simple.
How pure the birdcalls.
Hoot and yodel and wail and tremolo
Breath over beak to broadcast Midwest mayhem
Maybe.
Rising, falling, its echo lifts in air
The agonizing wakeup wail
Warning of lunacy that is anything but common
Megaphone of whip and will, alert to icy creep
To pierce the morning quiet of our cereal comforts
How pure.
How strong the aroma.
The freshly peppered nostrils
Of new capsaicin sommeliers
Panic spritzed and catching bouquets accidental
Of Authority’s Signature Scent
No fruity whiffs, no wood-soaked odor
Just the stench of rot made visible with every orange blow
No notes, just Noes.
Resistance has a perfume
How strong.
How bright the dark.
Starlight and pinholes stab at inky placard sky
Masked Unfamiliars orbit, fat with menace,
To beat at the threads of our delicate web
A militant and dirty oil in our joyous Milky Way
One by one, lights flicker, as streetlights, as eyes
Flashing to observe and shine with love
Steady and together, to make clear the vision
To blink out the darkness and illuminate the rage
How bright.
How peaceful this swell.
How fertile this soil.
How clean this wind.
How long this road.
/ And us upon it, surrounded by madmen.
Listen to me read this post to you, here 👇
This week’s amends…
"I am very poorly today & very stupid & hate everybody & everything."
Charles Darwin
Letter to Charles Lyell
1st October 1861
—Darwin Correspondence Project
I feel ya, Chuck.
Via Letters of Note Newsletter
On Rotation: “You Shook Me” by Led Zeppelin.
It's Friday. Time to get the Led out (which was brought on by this episode 👇 of What's in my Bag?, which was soooooo goooood.) I want to say it was the first Zeppelin record I ever bought, but I think I used to have a bang-for-buck mentality back in my 20s, and the first Zeppelin thing I bought with the 4 CD box set. Which I wish I still had (I still have the CDs, but I guess threw the box away - it had a booklet in it. It does not sound like something I'd do, but there is no box!) After that, I started buying all the CDs. And now, I'm half way through re-buying it all again on vinyl. It's an endless cycle, this musical format life.
A reminder that all songs featured in this newsletter over the years are added to the giant mega super playlist of magnificence which you can access with an effortless depress of this button. 👇
Love this short documentary on "The Pop Art Nun" Corita Kent. Huge hole in my knowledge. Glad to have stumbled upon this.
Here are her 'rules'. Rule 6, baby!
Birdsong of a linnet visualized. (Click image to launch on Instagram)
Shameless Podcast Plug
Listen to audio versions of early issues of The Stream on my podcast, Field of Streams, available on 👉 all major podcasting platforms 👈
Here’s Apple
