it’s nice that way

the saffron in my hair is not everything 
the sun wake up to kiss me 
signs point to disaster 
but i split the time between dwelling on
and understanding that distortion 
does not define me 
u have ur line and design 
and that’s okay
telling lies 
with the truth 
will only pay
for so long we tried to fight 
but it’s okay
rub against your expectations 
feel the friction of contradiction 
it’s nice that way
and i sleep easier

long haul

you don’t live in between worlds
you live in one world 
this one and no you aren’t caught
not stuck or trapped in between 
that’s a lie you tell yourself to 
let yourself off the hooks 
we can’t do that here
let ourself off no matter
how many books you read
any ones that you tatter
you gotta replace
so get to face to face with it
cuz baby
you’re in for the long haul

The Most Dangerous Situation That Humanity Has Ever Faced: The Fortieth Newsletter (2022)

Since 1947, the Doomsday Clock has measured the likelihood of a human-made catastrophe, namely to warn the world against the possibility of a nuclear holocaust. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, who attend to this clock, originally set the device at seven minutes to midnight, with midnight being, essentially, the end of the world. The farthest that the clock has been from midnight was in 1991, when it was set at 17 minutes from midnight. The closest to midnight that the clock has been is now. Since 2020, the clock has sat at ‘doom’s doorstep’ – 100 seconds from midnight. The motivation for this alarming setting was the unilateral withdrawal by the United States from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 2019. This is the ‘most dangerous situation that humanity has faced’, said former President of Ireland and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson.
— Read on thetricontinental.org/newsletterissue/doomsday-nuclear-war/

‘Society Has Shut Down On Us:’ Prison Strikers Across Alabama Demand Change Despite Severe Retaliation | Labor Notes

Across the state of Alabama, where the state’s longest-ever strike is currently ongoing at Warrior Met Coal after over 18 months, another historic labor stoppage is in its second week. Thousands of incarcerated people at every major male prison in Alabama have refused to report to their work assignments.
— Read on labornotes.org/blogs/2022/10/society-has-shut-down-us-prison-strikers-across-alabama-demand-change-despite-severe

may, be

everything hinges on may
be the month where it gets
fuzzy, iffy and swings may
happen quicker than you 
guess and just in time to per
haps take a leave of absinthe
images we keep in our head
swivel back to 
quizas quizas
quizas 

it’s better we don’t 
know exactly when
ever it happen
stance is guarded up
side down
trodden
and tent
ative 
alive!

corps corpse

whatever the corps say 
ain’t their corporeal form 
it’s a typa corpse play 
light dead bodies staged
torn straight from the storm
say, u checked on ur 401k yet?
eyes run red from ragged
nights and days without u
 could shout it down 
but what good would that do
average out is bout of fear 
it’s cycle mind you doubt
bicycle time to save gas
and pass on the bread so
the next generation can 
have their names in shiny
lights and no fears abt
what the feds may or may
not do

living it down

You aren’t in my dreams anymore
I’m thinking of new poems that you will never read
I’m thinking how I could have done things things different 
I’m thinking I did the best I could 
I have this fantasy of bumping into you 
Telling you the whole story 
And it being easy 
Fool-child, hopeless romantic
Open heart don’t close it just yet 
I lived it down 
I think