June 19, 2018

The Last Song - Miguel Hernandez

Tonight, thousands of asylum seekers share with Miguel Hernandez the cruel destiny of those without power, without light, without home.

Painted, not empty:
my house is painted
in the colors
of great passions and tragedies.

The empty dinner table,
and noisy bed will return
from the tears to which
they were taken.

Kisses will blossom on the pillows,
And sheets will rise over bodies
entangled like vines
nocturnal and perfumed.

Hatred will vanish
behind the windows.

Claws will be softened.


Leave me hope, at least.

(Written in prison, from which he never returned)

Cancion ultima

Pintada, no vacía:
pintada está mi casa
del color de las grandes
pasiones y desgracias.

Regresará del llanto
adonde fue llevada
con su desierta mesa
con su ruidosa cama.

Florecerán los besos
sobre las almohadas.
Y en torno de los cuerpos
elevará la sábana
su intensa enredadera
nocturna, perfumada.

El odio se amortigua
detrás de la ventana.

Será la garra suave.

Dejadme la esperanza

June 15, 2018

Two days in a row, sweeping teeny, tiny little maple seeds...

That turned out not to be maple seeds.

About a quarter inch in length.

Hundreds, maybe thousands of them in my inner courtyard.

Except, they're not maple seeds.

They are cast-off ant wings.

A little bit of rain and the ants rush to mate and send forth the next generation of queens.

We are literally outnumbered.

June 8, 2018

Trump is drunk with power and it's time for an intervention nt

June 3, 2018

So how is it that convicted felons can't vote but they can run for office?

Former New York congressman Michael Grimm is a felon who has admitted to hiring undocumented workers, hiding $900,000 from tax authorities and making false statements under oath. To hear him tell it, that’s a reason Staten Island Republicans should vote him back into office.

“It’s almost identical to what the president has been going through,” Grimm says of the federal investigation that led to his imprisonment. “It’s not an accident that under the Obama administration, the Justice Department was used politically. And that is all starting to come out.”

Grimm has uncovered a new reality in the constantly changing world of Republican politics: Criminal convictions, once seen as career-enders, are no longer disqualifying. In the era of President Trump, even time spent in prison can be turned into a positive talking point, demonstrating a candidate’s battle scars in a broader fight against what he perceives as liberal corruption.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/crimes-are-no-longer-a-disqualification-for-republican-candidates/2018/04/30/c64a40ac-4807-11e8-827e-190efaf1f1ee_story.html

It seems weird that a felon can't be trusted to vote, but he can run for office as a Republican candidate.