ST. AGNES EVE ARRIVES IN STEUBENVILLE, OHIO

by Diane Kendig

Protesters return to Steubenville voicing concerns about rape case --Steubenville Herald-Star, February 3, 2013

The Lessons of Steubenville --The New Yorker, January 11, 2013

Rape Case Unfolds on Web and Splits City--The New York Times, December 16, 2012

From outside Harding Field
I think of the legal brief,
and of the freshman girl
who has had no relief
though surely she has dreams.

The coaches played their teams
for pics and Tweets don’t count
at least not to any amount.

Therefore,
a motion gets filed mid-December
asking the court please remember
she may not be victim, but whore.


Diane Kendig, who has worked as a poet, writer, translator and teacher for over 40 years, is the author of four poetry collections, most recently The Places We Find Ourselves (fall 2009). A recipient of two Ohio Arts Council Fellowships in Poetry and a Fulbright lectureship in translation, she has published widely in literary journals, including J Journal, Wordgathering, About Places, and qarrtsiluni.

THANKS GIVING

by Tom Karlson

Theodore Roosevelt Equestrian Statue, American Museum of Natural History. Image source: Wikipedia

“I suppose I should be ashamed to say that I take the western view of the Indian. I don't go so far as to think that the only good Indian is the dead Indian, but I believe nine out of every ten are, and I shouldn't like to inquire too closely into the case of the tenth.”  --Theodore Roosevelt, 1886
 

That original sin
Our original sin
Not a talking snake sin
No Adam or Eve sin

This original sin
This first holocaust sin
This First Nation
60 million
Double helixed
Chromosome
Long gone sin
200 languages silenced sin
This good, dead, jailed, Indian sin

as

310 million All-Americans
Sit at the table
Football and eats
Giving thanks


Tom Karlson is founder of Poets for Peace, Long Island, NY.

THE FRAGONARDS PLAY A HOME GAME

by M. A. Schaffner

Image source: Pébéo

Through all my life I’ve grown up just enough
to step back through the looking glass and sing
nonsense songs while shaving.  You know the tunes.
Context has everything to do with death,
and that changes constantly, so today
I’ll settle for a six pack and a game
of football or Scrabble.  Let small dogs watch
as we wrestle with ambition and win
one more time, because we know its weak points.
Last night there was a moon.  There will be again
long after we uncork our last bottle.
We solved the world’s problems.  It will have more,
but I don’t need to work them any more
than will finches nesting over the grill,
or their neighbors, the squirrels, or the cats
hunting stupidly, garden to garden.


M. A. Schaffner has work recently published or forthcoming in The Hollins Critic, Magma, Tulane Review, Gargoyle, and Skirmish Magazine.  Other writings include the poetry collection The Good Opinion of Squirrels, and the novel War Boys.  Schaffner used to work as a civil servant, but now serves civil pugs.

It's Wednesday.! Tomorrow is...

Tomorrow is the 5pm football game at Husky Stadium.

The Roosevelt neighborhood blog has a fun little graphic from the UW showing the overlapping  traffic.  Apparently the UW is doing this in the idea that the game will provide national pr for the school?

The UW has some info on its website too, including the suggestion that UW employees use one of their vacation days to take the day off.