Most of the poems seem really bad, especially when I go back and look at older ones. I can sometimes see what poems readers have 'clicked' and I have been editing those a great deal lately. Thank you for your patience!
It is a dismal world right now. Genocide is occurring, full screen on the global stage, courtesy of TikTok and Instagram. Fascism is rising in the USA, under the malignant Trump. He is attacking and degrading universities and cultural centers ("I love the poorly educated," he boasts), which is leading to the sad conclusion that humanity will do little to nothing to prevent global warming, and no doubt other environmental crises as well.
Things are likely to get worse, and the situation is sliding fast. It is a hard time in which to find purchase, in terms of direction or meaning. The media pretends the evil things all around us, present to our immediate senses, are not occurring. So does many a zealous citizen, a good portion of whom will viciously attack, if their ignorance is pointed out to them.
The New York Times Magazine just published a piece called "The Trouble With Wanting Men," by Jean Garnett. She makes good points about how men have low emotional competence. Most men have "normative male alexithymia" (can't identify let alone talk about what they're feeling). Recent social awareness of sexism has apparently made men feel awkward at best, for they lack the skills to psychologically deal. This awkwardness, again, at best, contributes to men wobbling and waffling on simple things, like verifying a date or whether they want to meet again.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/21/magazine/men-heterofatalism-dating-relationships.html
The most-liked comments on this article were not positive. Indeed, they viciously attacked the author. For some reason, the New York Times chose some of these comments to be featured as a "Times Pick." One of these is by "Incel Q Lonely," who simply attacks the author over her candid self-disclosures:
lol taking a guy home home on the first date after the legal ending of an open marriage. Yup the problem is completely and totally with men
This kind of hateful, angry reply is ancient. It ignores the arguments that are put forward--a complete lack of respect or philosophical skill--and uses a fallacy, formally called an ad hominen, to attack the author's character,. What's more disturbing is that this comment got over 2500 likes. More shocking, still, is that the New York Times decided to feature it.
If a Black person wrote a piece discussing how White people have trouble relating to Black people's needs, based on a lack of awareness, I doubt the Times would feature a comment that mocks the author, especially by someone whose screen name plays on a hate group.
In case anyone doesn't know, "incel" is a word associated with a misogynous movement.
So ... what I'm saying ... is that human stupidity is utterly draining. And it tends to hog center stage. Given opportunity, it violently takes over, as we have seen with the fascist movement here in America.
This kind of draining and stupid behavior, a full capitulation to violence and anger over reason, is something that anyone who wants to promote ethics, that is, the Good, has to face. When I myself am frustrated and furious, I try to think what it must have been like to be an abolitionist. Imagine protesting against slavery, only to have slavers mock and jeer you, beat you up, if they have a chance--or tell you things like, 'because of you, I'm going to go home and whip some N--."
How awful evil is. And how sad that we have to normalize it and deal with its barbs and cruelties, or worse. Telling the truth shouldn't be so hard or perilous. But it is.
Note well: By truth, I mean that which does not fly in the face of what is empirically verifiable. Science should not be dismissed. I am not, in seeking truth, pitching a religion. I am talking about global warming. I am talking about women being as human and capable as men. It is also a truth that no religion is the best and only religion. And that any religion that is against equality is going, not only against science, but the dignity and fairness at the core of human rights.
One can embrace god, and there's nothing wrong with that, not necessarily. As well, it is natural for many of us to celebrate and feel awe for nature and the universe. To dance in mystic abandon. To rhapsodize and express our awe in variegated personal ways, such as poetry. But none of that is to necessarily choose a religion.
Whatever the full complement of reasons for my fixation with poetry, part of why I write is to seek a release valve. The beauty and depth of poetry provides a means to express painful emotions and moral outrage in a way that is, more or less, healthy.
It's not quite that simple. If writing a poem leaves me in tears or full of hate, I still have to deal with it, explore the why, and try not to freak out. But the beauty, the reach, going deep in the soul, it is like an utterly honest conversation at the most intimate level. It is soulmate-level stuff, but within yourself, your muses, your inspiration, however you frame it. It could be god. Or one of the gods. It could be your spirit partner, who might be a witch. Or not. What is your spirituality? Your passionate voice has its own unique expresison.
Subconscious forces--maybe I should call them spells--are at the helm when I write. Where they take me, I can't fully know. It's difficult, scary, dangerous, wonderful and exhilarating. It can be sublime, this mutuality. It can feel good. And it is good to break out of the denialism of evil.
=====================================