What I’m Writing
A Poem for Her
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They smashed your windows
Graffitied your steps
Littered your floors
And smeared your statues with blood.
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They shattered your lights
Gassed your halls
Overturned your tables
And mocked you with a crown of thorns.
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But today, you came back to us, wearing a different kind of crown –
Not sharp, bristling, and barbed,
But purple, sparkly, and yellow,
Like a caged bird now freed.
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Today, you ushered us into a new birth of freedom, a resurrection of love.
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Today, you let us see you,
So that we may know you intend to go on.
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Today, you let us hear you,
So that we may know how.
What I’m Reading
Book Reviews
Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May: Click here to read my review
Eleanor by David Michaelis: Click here to read my review
Other
“America ‘needed’ Amanda Gorman’s words, her teachers say. She delivered.” by Caroline Kitchener | January 20, 2021 | The Lily
“Surprise Ending for Publishers: In 2020, Business Was Good” by Elizabeth A. Harris | December 29, 2020 | The New York Times
“Joanne Rogers, memory-keeper of ‘Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,’ dies at 92” by Emily Langer | January 14, 2021 | The Washington Post
“Here’s what you need to know about the book club service that just raised $40 million” by Walker Caplan | January 27, 2021 | LitHub
“There Are Two Kinds of Happy People” by Arthur C. Brooks | January 28, 2021 | The Atlantic
“Andrew Yang, Fran Lebowitz, and Who Gets to Be a ‘Real’ New Yorker” by Michael Schulman | January 21, 2021 | The New Yorker