Ed Coletti and Katherine Hastings On Poets & Political Activity/Ed Coletti&Katherine Hastings Poems/Trump's Dog?/Resistance Anthology/On Lindsay's Book by Michael Rothenberg with James Spitzer/

                     (James Spitzer Woodblock Feb 2017 https://jimspitzerart.wordpress.com)

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For the longest time, I referred to myself as a non-joiner.  I after all am a poet, a painter, one who speaks out through art.  However, in this age of Trump and the growth of fascism in America, I’ve had to reassess this stance and have begun joining organizations including the Sonoma County Democratic Club, Indivisible, and also others such as Swing Left and Sister Districts for efforts beyond my own geographical area.  Additionally, I have been making trips to Congressman Mike Thompson’s office and have attended his recent town hall on the ACA and healthcare in California.  I have learned quite a bit.  I even attended the Democratic Club’s recent fundraising Crab Feed along with 13 of my close friends.  Another group of 13 responded to our invitation and joined in a brain-storming "Huddle" at our house.

For those of  you poets who may feel that such involvement is not for you, I suggest that you, as have I, look into yourselves and ask “Is what I am doing by writing anti-Trump poems (but see below for a bit of humor) and speaking out among kindred poetic spirits doing enough?  Is it effective in reaching an extensive audience?  The title of this ten-plus year old blog may contain a clue.  While most readers may agree that there is very little money in poetry, we should realize that, beyond the purity and value of art for art’s sake, we may be having little impact upon the broader population which must be reached to effect social change.

I commend Bay Area poet Katherine Hastings (see below) for her material involvement in political organizations working to influence congress.  I use her as example here.  I am certain that many other poets are working through grass roots organizations and the Democratic Party to effect change.  We now realize that merely writing and grousing is not going to get the job done.

Overhauling the words of Milton, “They really do not serve who only stand and wait.”

- Ed Coletti 3-9-17 


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And now for a humorous interlude...

Does Donald Trump Have a Dog

Sam on my lap I scratch his ear

            gaze into his sadly happy eyes

wonder just what I’ve done

                                                to deserve

him he who can also be

                    the loud barking nuisance

startling the hell out of me

                                      who in Vietnam

daily heard both loud

                       and more muffled blasts

constantly reminding me

                     mortality expends its time

as explosion or terrier barking.

So to the question of whether or not

          our self-centered president-elect

ever even pondered the company of

     a pup he would need to kibble-feed

I only can attempt to imagine

            the starved and wanting puppy

explosively reminding The Donald

                about food that one necessity

required and craved, sustenance and

                              attention withheld by

President-elect in Scotland playing

          golf texting Kelly Anne Conway,

"Is that greedy little mutt still around?

        Feed its ass and name it anything

except Ted or Jeb Ben Mike or Marco

                                                   all losers

And give my dog whatever

                                              you name it

the blue ribbon for terrificness

                                         such a winner!

Huge!”


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Ed Coletti and Katherine Hastings On
Poets and Political Activity

  Since the election of a reality television host to the “highest office in the land,” surrounded by white supremacists and misogynists, a cacophony of conversations have been taking place almost everywhere I turn.  These conversations range from “How could this have happened?” to “What can we do?”  From “This is what I’m doing” to “This is what I’m not doing.”  Some people feel all we can do is wait; others feel this is an excellent time to show, through meaningful action, just how important combatting this administration is.  Marchers have marched, ghost lights have been lit, and poetry readings have been arranged around the theme of resistance.  It felt wonderful to participate in all of these actions and more with like-minded people.

            What am I doing personally?  I could say I’m staying focused on the issues at hand and doing at least one action every single day.  A handful of examples include (1) signing on to swingleft.org to try to influence the outcome of the 2018 elections, rendering the current administration powerless in two years, (2) joining other truly active organizations like Indivisible and the NAACP, (3) sending financial support to organizations like the ACLU and Planned Parenthood, among others and (4) calling a meeting in my home with immigrants to go over in detail what their rights are if they are stopped by ICE or police, or if they show up at their front doors. Where I can, I educate.  “Yes,” I answered someone recently who asked if it’s a bad thing that the government wants federal protections to revert to state’s rights when it comes to LGBTQ people, “that’s a very bad thing.”  For instance, no one should have to worry about job transfers from one state to another because of who they love; we should all have the same rights.  “Civil rights are human rights.”

            This forum could be an excellent place to tout what I’m doing.  That is not my intention; I like to share ideas for action in case any of them appeal to others. The truth of the matter is, I’m finding activism a bit like grief itself.  One day I wake up accepting the reality of the mess and saying This is what I can do! and do it.  On another day I wake up so depressed (anger turned inwards) about the latest situation — yet another hard-working father ripped from his family, or another Jewish cemetery desecrated, or another environmental protection flushed down the coal toilet  — that I wonder if there is anything to be done that can possibly bring enough change fast enough.  Woe is me.

And then I remember it’s not about me, and do whatever the best action of the day seems to be, measured by its potential. 

I ask myself time and time again “What is the solution?”

I’ve learned to leave Facebook off for the most part. “Liking” someone’s outrage is an inaction.  I try not to judge people by what they’re doing or not doing.  (“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” — Eleanor Roosevelt)  I often fail.

I give myself a break now and then.  This is going to be a long, difficult fight that has been going on for some people in the country since the first Europeans landed, since the first slave ship arrived.  I don’t want to burn out before my work is done. 

                                                                                    Katherine Hastings

                                                                                    February 27, 2017

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Dear Ashraf Fayadh,

Outside my window men speak

in a tongue I do not completely

understand.  These are the men

who work the soil, the vineyards,

who pray to another god and the

god’s mother, who sing you are

never alone.  We are all orphans

searching for light, harmony lost

to the stark meaning of man-made

laws.  In our hearts, the poem of

Love is perfected, is the most holy

relic of Time.  Dear Ashraf Fayadh,

may you live happily among the

living, neither lashed nor beheaded,

on little islands of wonder, feeling

for all the gods what they are

incapable of feeling, each word,

each brush stroke, a golden bee

bathed in the breath of heaven.

—    Katherine Hastings from her collection

from Spuyten Duyvil NYC, 2016

Note:  Ashraf Fayadh is a Palestinian poet and artist living in Saudi Arabia who as sentenced to death by beheading on a charge of apostasy, or renouncing Islam.  After the sentencing, his father died of a heart attack.  Due to public pressure (after this poem was written), the courts reduced his sentence from death to 8 years in prison and 800 lashes.  Efforts are ongoing to free him. 

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This is a huge anthology featuring many of America's greatest poets.  Press the link to see all of their names. 

http://www.spuytenduyvil.net/resist-much-obey-little.html

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 Lindsay's Book

Poem by Michael Rothenberg

Art by James Spitzer

International poet-force Michael Rothenberg (publisher of  Big Bridge www.bigbridge.org ) writes poignantly of his first great love and the searing loss of his lover to death in her young twenties.

The poem is set in Florida.  California painter Jim Spitzer, collaborates with Rothenberg and provides startlingly spare images which must be seen.  This beautiful little book packs a tender punch and must be read.  You can purchase Lindsay's Book by sending a check made out to Michael Rothenberg at PO Box 2724, Tallahassee, FL 42304. 

 Comment or Read Comments Here  on any of the above or below. If you do not have a Google account, then log in by checking "Name/URL," (it's easy). Just the name (don't worry about the URL). Actual name is best, but use what you like. Or email me at edcoletti@sbcglobal.net, and I can post it.