The Poet's Room

  Rachel & Cottonwood      Walking outside in nature can be a form of meditation.  Rather than focusing inside on my thoughts and the antics of my mind, looking, observing, trying to see everything around brings me into the peace found in this moment. This walk where I now live is near the Nevin Springs Wildlife Area acquired by the state in 1876 to create a fish hatchery. The drive to secure space for parks, preserves and conservancies  reminds us of our need for recreation. To Re-create! Recreate ourselves! Bring ourselves into harmony with being itself. On a recent walk I stopped to observe a chickadee feeding. This chickadee besides the normal black and white pattern had a light dusting of yellow on each side of the breast.  The chickadee would leave a low perch fly down to pick a seed head off a plant then fly back to perch and quickly pick the seeds out to eat. Then quickly repeat. As I watched a jogger came up behind, stopped, asked what I was looking at. I pointed out the c

Robes of Oppression                                                                   After t he U. S. unceremoniously pulled out of Afghanistan the Taliban escorted with guns a small group of women draped in black from head to toe with only a tiny slit to look through as alleged support for their repressive interpretation of Islam. Most certainly a death march for women’s rights in that country. No way to be sure real women sat beneath those shrouds. The covering by design conceals the individual and every aspect, every contour of femininity. Everything about the staged scene suggested herded chattel.  Free Afghan Woman      In protest Afghan women living safely outside of the country took pictures of themselves in colorful traditional dress. Suggesting the black hijab to be a foreign totalitarian imposition on Afghan women. Most women’s schools were quickly shut down and working women suddenly had no employment. The freedom to get educated, to work, overnight taken away by repressi