Thought for the Day

[. . .] I have come around to understand the fact that in promising

us an afterlife, we are being given a chance to take care of

unfinished business. Because who, except the greatest 

of saints and the most innocent of persons, 

doesn't have unfinished business? [. . .]

~ Denise Levertov

_______________________________

Quoted from Emily Archer, "Conversation with Denise Levertov," Image, Issue 18, Winter 1997-1998

Denise Levertov (October 24, 1923 - December 20, 1997), British-Born Poet, Writer, Translator; Teacher; Political Activist

Uprootings (Poem)

 Uprootings

1

 

Ungloved hands once plucked ripe olives,

Palestinian symbol of resilience and pride.

They harvest now no more than branch

and bone, sprayed hectares amid grove fires.

 

2

 

In Khan Younis, beyond the border fence,

no one dances dabka. In Nablus, a farmer

hugs her tree, and cries; another watches,

his grape vines crushed, his fingers broken.

 

3

 

A city center's oil spills. A boy's toy

plane soars from a concrete balcony

just seconds before the blast

of a white phosphorus bomb.

 

4

 

Love of the land, for the land:

even the natural history of the soil

is denied, crops confined behind iron

gates, earth mounds, secure checkpoints.

Thought for the Day

[. . .] Peace, not only /

the absence of war. [. . .] 

~ Denise Levertov

_____________________________

Quoted from Denise Levertov, "Making Peace" in Breathing the Water (New Directions Press, 1997)

Text of Poem and Commentary by Felipe Herrera

"Making Peace" in The Collected Poems of Denise Levertov (New Directions, 2013), pp. 757-758

Denise Levertov (1923-1997), British-born American Poet, Writer, Translator; Teacher; Political Activist

Denise Levertov Profiles at Academy of American Poets, Image Journal, New Directions, The New York Times

Thought for the Day

Eat the cake!

~ Hadley Vlahos on Advice from the Dying

____________________

 

Quoted from "Biloxi Native Writes WSJ bestseller 'The In Between'," Interview on WLOX (Video), June 27, 2023

 Hadley Vlahos, Hospice Nurse; Author, The In Between (Penguin Random House, 2023)

 

Excerpt from The In Between

 

David Marchese, "A Hospice Nurse on Embracing the Grace of Dying," Interview, The New York Times, October 21, 2023

Thought for the Day

. . . if your moral compass is attuned to the suffering of only one

side, your compass is broken, and so is your humanity.

~ Nicholas Kristof

____________________

Quoted from Nicholas Kristof, "Opinion: Seeking a Moral Compass in Gaza's War" in The New York Times, October 11,  2023 (Online)

Nicholas Kristof, Columnist, The New York Times; Pulitzer Prize Winner; Author