Poems written in June and July 2020: eight couplet form following John Yau format
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Image from:
Seattle becomes The Emerald City in 1982., Posted 10/24/200 HistoryLink.org Essay 3622
Re-envisioning Safety in the Emerald City
Re-envisioning safety in the emerald city we will make right the cause of our failure.
Working with trusted messengers and de-escalators, we will get this right. Says the mayor
Marchers and dancers, chanters and singers, talkers and ragers are holding the block.
If you're looking for a leader you're not going to find that person says someone in line.
Working with trusted messengers and de-escalators, we will get this right. Says the mayor.
We will act as liaisons on issues of outreach, reform, and building community trust.
If you're looking for a leader you're not going to find that person says someone in line.
And we have reached out, we are reaching out. We will get everyone here at the table.
We will act as liaisons on issues of outreach, reform, and building community trust.
We know some bad actors and untrusted messengers are getting loud, getting very shrill.
And we have reached out, we are reaching out. We will get everyone here at the table.
Near and long-term provisional strategies will be used. Of course there is always more.
We know some bad actors and untrusted messengers are getting loud, getting very shrill.
Re-envisioning safety in the emerald city we will make right our series of failures.
Near and long-term provisional strategies will be used. Of course there is always more.
Marchers, dancers and talkers now scrub blood off the streets. It's an open wound.
About this poem: Re-envisioning Safety in the Emerald City
Following local news for past month, now have to stop. I first started writing this June 25, poking fun of sorts at the complicated language used by officials to talk about what they plan to do. Very hard to find the trusted de-escalators.
I find myself wanting to rewite lines, and do so for 3 days, then decide to skip revising as of July 4, 2020. Many more words in this series of sentences are yet to be found.
Image from
'Why Did They Hate Us?': Explaining the Lynching Memorial to My Son by DAINA RAMEY BERRY
See Articles Page for pdf of the full article
Full of Our Very Green Mountains, How About Now?
Life and death in the forest. Life and death in the city and street.
If another man is now murdered in our plain sight, is now enough?
Like George Floyd and what was the other guy's name that died cause he couldn't breathe?
As a brown-rice eater, plastic-bag washer, non tree-hugger but frequent pruner, I will say
If another man is now murdered in our plain sight, is now enough?
One full breath wides me open. Five will surround. I am ok. We are ok.
As a brown-rice eater, plastic-bag washer, non tree-hugger but frequent pruner, I will say
If you see something, say something. Black men are found hanging from trees.
One full breath wides me open. Five will surround. I am ok. We are ok.
Sourdough's rising, my eyes wide open to the hills and our own very brown rocks.
If you see something, say something. Black men are found hanging from trees.
Silence is our poultice, rain and sun our reward. I'm not sure that we get it.
Sourdough's rising, my eyes wide open to the hills and our own very brown rocks.
Life and death in the forest. Life and death in the city and street.
Silence is our poultice, rain and sun our reward. I'm not sure that we get it.
Like George Floyd and what was the other guy's name that died cause he couldn't breathe?
About this poem Full of Our Very Green Mountains, How About Now?
June 15, 2020 This piece of writing is an attempt to start to deal with what's happening now, today in our country. By that I mean what goes through my head when I see the headline "Black men found hanging from trees" in a major newspaper. I live in the mountains with my green hills, brown rocks, and sourdough rising where we take full breaths. Again, the form of eight couplets and the strict repeat of lines gives me a frame in which to play around with common phrases I hear, inside and outside of my head.
Update June 22: No evidence of murder yet found in the several cases under investigation. Two cases in recent weeks have been explained as personal situations. One hanging, the death of Robert Fuller of Palmdale appears suspicious, but no details are yet available.
Update June 28: Fuller's funeral is set for Tuesday, June 30 at Living Stone Cathedral of Worship in Littlerock.
Update July 9, 2020: Official investigation finds cause of death to be suicide.
See Articles Page for other updates and links.
A line of almost all white women formed between police officers and black protesters at Thursday night's rally in downtown Louisville calling for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor. (Photo: Tim Druck)
Savannah Eadens, Louisville Courier Journal Published 7:01 p.m. ET May 29, 2020
Foot Soldiers: A Poem that Writes Itself
"A white person’s job at a protest isn’t to spray “Black Lives Matter” on a building."
Armed in their arms, Kentucky white women are standing up in their shoes.
An injustice to one is an injustice to all. Didn't we learn that in school?
The boots of foot soldiers are pounding the ground, what do you think?
Armed in their arms, Kentucky white women are standing up in their shoes.
Their sneakers and boots are on the ground. They need to be there.
The boots of foot soldiers are pounding the ground, what do you think?
Foot soldiers wear sneakers, thick boots, sandals and their old tennis shoes.
Their sneakers and boots are on the ground. They need to be there.
All lives will matter when all Black Lives Matter, when justice is done.
Foot soldiers wear sneakers, thick boots, sandals and their tennis shoes.
A white person's job is to listen more than to speak. And to do our research.
All lives will matter when all Black Lives Matter, when justice is done.
"A white person’s job at a protest isn’t to spray “Black Lives Matter” on a building."
A white person's job is to listen more than to speak. And to do our research.
An injustice to one is an injustice to all. Did we not learn that in school?
About this poem Foot Soldiers
Another eight couplets, these from the news.The line in quotations is by Ben O’Keefe, former senior aide to Sen. Elizabeth Warren in the June 2 article:
How to be a good white ally, according to activists
Three experts on what it does and doesn’t mean to be an ally, now and always. By Emily Stewartemily.stewart@vox.com Jun 2, 2020, 2:10pm EDT
See Articles Page for pdf of the full article.
Dealing with ash in a Spokane, WA neighborhood, 1980. google images.
Remembering May 18, 1980
What's forty years? Some times we never forget.
But I was as usual safe from the falling ash.
All of the birds fell silent that day that St. Helens blew.
We didn't know anything at all until then we did.
But I was as usual safe from the falling ash.
Today's colors are grey, white, and dark green. Flowers are pink.
We didn't know anything at all until then we did.
And the long, dark southern plume lasted so many days.
Today's colors are grey, white, and dark green. Flowers are pink.
Outside in the yard now I hear the twittering black birds.
And the long, dark southern plume lasted so many days.
One deep breath wides you open, five will surround.
Outside in the yard now I hear the twittering black birds.
What's forty years? Some times we never forget.
One deep breath wides you open, five will surround.
All of the birds fell silent on that day that St. Helens blew.
About this poem Remembering May 18 1980
I read A Painter’s Thoughts by John Yau , posted at poets.org, and was so taken by the form with its repeating lines, I copied the method.
Remembering what happened around here when the mountain blew its top, and how, as usual I was fairly safe from surrounding trouble.
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