We Shall Rest

https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/We-Shall-Rest-by-Sheila-Black_final.mp3

 

The elm split by lightening stands
above the bench where my father sat
the summer he could no longer breathe
enough to walk to the Avalon
without stopping. I sat next to him,
a little bored, a little tired of
his child-like need—his insistence
on walking even when he could not
walk. In the film, we watched
that day, a group of actors are
rehearsing a play. The star runs through
his lines in the …

More In: Chronicles

Wool Washing

 

I like to wash wool blankets
in a rubber tub, stomping
as if I live on a vineyard,
the detritus of a year
squelching and puffing
between my feet. I …

To Paint Persimmons

 

a crow pits his beak against the fruit, the push
   and pull of intimacy an ease, a vulnerability.
   How lovely to pit our mouths
    against each other. …

This Korean Election Shows How Fragile Our Democracy Is

Our Economic Culture Has Isolated Us. Our Politics Have Divided Us. Now We’re Backsliding

More than three decades after South Korea’s democratic transition, we thought we had consolidated our democratic progress. We imagined that our democracy was strong and would grow stronger.

We are learning …

The House of Two Weathers, or The Years after the Layoff

 

The mailman brought a Florida postcard
or a thin white envelope the weight of an anvil.

The potted African violet in the kitchen window
raised its richest purple or drooped.

The mother …

In Ukraine, No Election Doesn’t Mean the Electorate Is Happy | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

In Ukraine, No Election Doesn’t Mean the Electorate Is Happy

President Zelensky Is an International Star. At Home, It’s More Complicated

Regular presidential elections should have taken place in Ukraine this month.

But on day one of Russia’s full-scale invasion of our country, Ukraine’s government introduced martial law, under which …