Since the last time I did a post on this blog, the U.S. has leapt into the flames of fascism and kleptocracy willingly, it appears. In the second month of 2025 we are witnessing a surge of policies and enactments in real time affecting not only the U.S. but Canada and other countries. And the…
Category: Poetry
Ode to an Incomplete Poem
Today’s post is a poem I wrote after taking stock of the current situation; the inhuman destruction of Gaza and Lebanon, the destabilization of the region and indeed the world, the deadly embargo on Cuba, not even lifted for humanitarian purposes as the island is battered by blackouts, hurricanes and earthquakes, the de facto U.S….
Complicity and Resistance: U.S. Poets on Palestine
Once again, as we enter the second year of an expanding genocide and are subject to increasing techno-fascism and the normalization of militarism, I seem to be unable to say any more than I and countless others have already said. This week’s blog perhaps subconsciously influenced by the upcoming U.S. election, features 3 U.S. poets….
Something More Than Force! Poetry and Humanity
Today’s post picks up where we left off, sharing the powerful and beautiful poetry of people’s varying resistances to annihilation. From the USA to Palestine, from Hawaii to Guatemala, these poems show us the common humanity we possess, though desperate efforts are being made to strip our commonalities away. These efforts are evident in trade…
Poetry for the Peeps! From the Land’s Heart
Land Back Rivers flowingScreens overflowingwith deathA keyboard of rubbleTechnology’s offeringRetina-burned imagesSeared into our conscience Violence reveredDialogue destroyedLives snapped into piecesDeath’s drones and sirensThe soundtrack of these days This is the world we witnessAs we bow and breakBeneath the onslaughtBut return we doOver and over and over againTo the olive grove’s heart.
Poetry for the Peeps! Citizen Heart
Today is my father’s birthday. Since he was a poet, translator, lover of, and professor of comparative literatures, it is fitting that he should be born in World Poetry Month. The poems and visual arts today are a tribute to him (Manabendra Bandyopadhyay, 1938-2020)). The poems below would have engaged him and certainly been part…
World Poetry Day!
March 21st is a day which celebrates both the power of poetry and calls for the elimination of racism globally. Today’s post shares the words and pictures of poets and artists speaking to the need for justice and for poetry. As the great Salvadoran poet Roque Dalton said, “poetry, like bread, is for everyone.” Even…
Poetry for the Peeps! Gloria Fuertes
Gloria Fuertes, Spain, 1917- 1998 (English Translations, Kaushalya Bannerji, 2023) Gloria Fuertes, says Wikipedia, was a Spanish poet, author of children’s literature, and regular participant in children’s television shows. She was part of the post-war literary movement of postismo, and a member of the Generation of ’50. Her work focused on gender equality, pacifism, and environmentalism. HAGO VERSOS, SENORES! Hago versos señores, hago…
Rafah: A Dirge for Democracy
I was and was not Surprised To see and hear of the torment of Rafah. I have watched the screens light up White and orange as phosphorus and fire. I have seen the 75 years and 128 days of pulverized buildings, Broken bodies, parts of bodies, dead children, Broken healers, silenced storytellers, massacred mothers. Hind,…
Art and Poetry Speaking to Our Hearts!
We are in the 129th day of genocide and ethnic cleansing carried out by the Israeli state with military, economic and moral backing by the U.S. , Germany, U.K. and Canada to name a few. Nicaragua has joined South Africa in a plea for ceasefire through the ICJ. People around the world continue to walk…
Poetry for the Peeps! Witnessing Genocide
Today’s blog continues to look at the atrocities being committed in Gaza and to join the world plea for a ceasefire now. There is no end to this inhumanity of pulverizing a people in real time and with the massive citizen and press presence on social media platforms, allowing us if we choose, to follow the absolute tragedy…
Return to the Same Moon
We enter the new year full of desires for a new and different world, a truly human world that honours our interconnectedness and “right relations” as Indigenous teachings put it. In this world, genocide would not exist because the power and powerlessness engendered by relations of exploitation, oppression, empire-building would not be the filters through which all…
Poetry for the Peeps! A Year to Remember
2023 has turned out to be a year to remember for all the wrong reasons. It has exposed the heartlessness at the centre of settler colonialism and empire. The inhumanity of the world’s leaders, the logic of capitalism and the global push to fascism are all so clearly spelled out for us. And the mainstream media has…
Poetry for the Peeps! Poems For Humanity
This week, before the celebration of the birth of Christ in Beit Layem in a week’s time, Israeli leaders and their U.S. handlers continue their vicious bombardment and genocide of Gaza and its people. It is with a heavy heart that we witness no mercy. From occupation to apartheid to genocide, settler colonialism seems to follow the…
Poets and Artists Against Occupation
Again I share the words and art of Palestinians. In this upside down world where to call an end to slaughter is to be silenced! More eloquently than I, the poets and visual artists I have been sharing, lay out the daily costs of expulsion, occupation and hope for liberation. “Don’t stop talking about Palestine”,…
Ear to the Ground 