release the files

Revolution

/ Beth Weaver-Kreider / Leave a comment

My friend Mara has challenged her online community to write a sonnet on the 14th day of the month. I will definitely try my hand at something more traditional some month, but today I was feeling experimental, and I read an interesting abecedarian today, so I thought: Half of 26 letters in the alphabet is 13, and if I emphasize the last two letters by giving them their own lines, then I’ll have the 14 lines necessary for a sonnet. Read across? Read down? Read on a downward zigzag? You choose the pathway.

Gratitude List:
1. Weekend–my energy for the work week was definitely flagging
2. A good long walk (on the treadmill, because darkness and cold)
3. One of my colleagues complimented my sweater today by saying I was rocking the 80s vibe, and I feel Seen.
4. Water–nothing like a cold drink of water when you’re tired
5. Experimentation and wordplay
May we walk in Beauty!

The Failing Tyrant

/ Beth Weaver-Kreider / Leave a comment
Found poem on a classroom white board.

The Failing Tyrant
by Beth Weaver-Kreider

He’s sure working hard to suppress
the evidence of his presumed innocence.

What possible reason could there be,
if he is guilt-free, to keep it hidden?

He’s bidden his stooges to silence,
riding his sycophants for their loyalty,

expecting to be treated like royalty,
trusting his privilege to keep him free

from the consequences of accountability.
But the truth is circling ever closer

and he knows although he won’t admit
that every century is lit up with the fires

of dictators and strongmen, tyrants
and would-be kings spiralling down

to their inevitable ends, their deeds
laid bare in the glare of a new-risen sun.

Gratitude List:
1. Re-establishing helpful practices, like making gratitude lists
2. The crescent moon in the sycamore tree
3. Soup
4. Tea
5. Big warm sweaters
May we walk in Beauty!