I Dont Say Goodbye, I Only Say Ciao

I Don’t Say Goodbye, I Only Say Ciao

Poem by. Gabrielle Octavia Rucker

What bloody lense holds firm between this mystery & us? Two shiny crows

tapping intelligently on the glass of a dream.

Please! Do not make me do the human things—

I must tend to my many plankton realities,

must be off with my better self:

One million faces lined

along a mirrored tunnel & in each that same tricky knot begging.

You couldn’t know how long I suffered over it, my long waiting at the end of the maze.

I can only guess what you think I’m after, stretching in the mirror

while you rattle on about sabotage,

an old tension springing in the body.

Thankyou Eric Carle

What My Father Knows

by Ross Shideler

My father raised me to know

that I am not different

from anyone else. This knowledge

makes me respond to you all

with doubt.

If you dreamed

as an eight year old

of shoveling coal into a furnace

and the furnace exploded

blowing you sky high,

and you saw from up there

while hanging to a stove pipe

the entire city, then

came down slowly

to the basement again,

why don’t you wish

to be a bird as I do?

And assuming

that you discovered around fourteen

that your parents were nice

but not your own

and you watched every night

for a starship to arrive,

why aren’t you aware of how alien

we all are to this planet?

Perhaps most confusing

is that I know you have spent

as many days and nights

as I have fearing death

and dreaming of a private escape

or of a discovery to save everyone,

yet still you seem to forget

what heroes and heroines we are

to get up every morning,

to go to bed every night.

Ways to Disappear

In the dark

Down a stairwell

Through the doorway

Gone west

With a new wish

In daylight

Down the sidewalk

In a wool coat

In a white dress

Without a name

Without asking

On your knees

On your stomach

Gone silent

In the backseat

In the courtroom

In a cage

In the desert

In the park

Gone swimming

On the shortest night

At the bottom of the lake

In pieces

In pictures

Without meaning

Without a face

Seeking refuge

In a new land

Gone still

In the heart

With your head bowed

In deference

In sickness

In surrender

With your hands up

On the sidewalk

In the daylight

In the dark

Poem by. Camille Rankine

Tell Congress to support real work for real pay!

People with disabilities live better lives when we are included in our local communities. That’s just as true when it comes to work as it is for education and housing. With the right supports, people with all kinds of disabilities and support needs can have good jobs that pay us well — but too many

All disabled people deserve integrated employment and payment equal to what abled people in those settings get. The Transformation to Competitive Integrated Employment Act can help. Find out more and how you can help here.

It took some time, after finishing the "One Straw Revolution" (by. Masanobu Fukuoka) to find his food mandalas. His "do nothing" philosophy is very appealing in a lot of ways. He sought harmony with nature in his daily away from capitalism, and I believe he lived his teachings till the end of his days. Although, I currently don't own land for farming. I want to apply his teachings: mindfulness, and being keen to listen to silence. Sometimes doing nothing and allowing nature to balance itself.

I may read this book again as I continue to grow.