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National Cat Day was inaugurated by animal welfare advocate Colleen Paige in 2005.
Eleanor Farjeon (1881-1965) was born in London; prolific English author of children’s stories and plays, poetry, biography, history and satire. Though she wrote many books, she is best remembered for the lyrics of the hymn “Morning Has Broken.”
America is teetering on the brink, and which side of history it ends up on, will have lasting implications for the global community at-large. The foundations of America are mired in harsh and callous controversy; an inescapable legacy which has dogged and peppered every defining and accompanying narrative of the nation.
Against this backdrop is the astronomical human progress which has been achieved, and has come to represent the flowering of human potential. The apotheosis of America from the terra firma of fellow earthlings to a bestowed characterization, as “God’s own country” is still current. The moniker conjures notions of astronomical power, limitless resources, grandeur, invincibility, dominance and immortality.
Having the imprimatur of ‘America’ affixed to a person, place or thing, is a universal coin of the realm and mark of peculiarity.
Brian Bilston, the unofficial “Poet Laureate of Twitter” is a mystery man – very little is known about him, other than his intense dislike of Jeremy Clarkson. Bilston is the author of the poetry collections You Took the Last Bus Home; Alexa, what is there to know about love?; and 50 Ways to Score a Goal and Other Football Poems. He also wrote Diary of a Somebody, a novel with poetry.
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October 23rd is the traditonal date for the swallows to depart from San Juan Capistrano. Thousands of San Juan Capistrano’s famous cliff swallows leave town every year in a swirling mass, the beginning of a 6,000 mile migration to their wintering grounds in Argentina.
American poet and violinist Leonora Speyer was born in Washington, D.C., in 1872. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1927 for her poetry collection Fiddler’s Farewell.
“This is the ultimate weakness of violence:
It multiplies evil and violence in the universe.
It doesn’t solve any problems.”– Martin Luther King, Jr.
UPDATE: The state of Texas is sending home to parents of schoolchildren identification kits which they can use to fingerprint and DNA swab their children so in the inevitable event of more mass shootings in Texas schools, it will be easier to identify their bullet-riddled bodies. Irene’s “Blood Roses” seems more timely than ever.
“Guns reveal themselves as being central to white supremacy…….Until Americans fully understand and reconcile their past, they have little hope of addressing the epidemic of gun violence in America today.” – Thom Hartmann
The origins of the second amendment are steeped in the overriding goal, to calcify the institution of slavery, and perpetuate a permanent slave class. Arguably, without slavery, the second amendment, would lack a raison d’etre. There is a through-line from the atrocities of the Atlantic slave trade, to the proliferation of guns in the US.
The phenomena of widespread gun violence, in the US, is of gargantuan proportions. It is tearing away at the fabric of society, with no let up or solution in sight.The rampant, flagrant, orgiastic bloodletting, caused by gun violence, is a sword of Damocles over the nation. Every needless death is a human tragedy, with appalling seen and unseen ripple effects.
October 19, 1879 – Emma Bell Miles was born; American short story writer, poet, and artist; published The Spirit of the Mountains in 1905, which contained stories, travels narratives, memoir, and cultural analysis of Southern Appalachia. A section of her book on Appalachian music, which first appeared as an article in Harper’s Monthly in 1904, is probably the first on the subject printed in a popular magazine. Her journals have also appeared in print.
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“You’re allowed to miss the people who were bullets to you,
but you’re not allowed to let them shoot you again.”
– Reyna Biddy, spoken word poet, author of We Find Our Way
“I don’t think there’s any such thing as an ability to easily use
a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon.”
– U.S. President Joe Biden“Biden described the current standoff over Ukraine, with
Vladimir Putin threatening to use all means at his disposal
to defend Russia and the territory it has seized in Ukraine,
as the most dangerous nuclear moment since the Cuban
missile crisis 60 years ago this month.”
– J. Borger and J. Rankin,The Guardian July 10, 2022
To read Irene’s new poem “Elephants Trumpeting Peace” click:
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Flowers For Socrates 