Photograph depicting a railroad track destroyed by fire during the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. / Courtesy of the Tulsa Historical Society and Museum
Every hour or so a train tears in
like a trumpet, b…
Poetry
Courtesy of the Tulsa Historical Society and Museum things to teach my son Tulsa, June 1, 1921 how to hold the line at first street. no escape how to tramp backyard gardens how to spot hid…
Crystal Z Campbell, Notes from Black Wall Street (Soft, Receptive, and Absolute), 2019, mixed media on wood, 30 x 20 inches / Courtesy of the artist Can a weed be humble bashful, sensitive,…
Gordon Parks, Untitled, Harlem, New York, 1952, courtesy of and © the Gordon Parks Foundation oklahoma sun an oppressive neighbor in august 1920. churchgoers settle after-dinner stomachs.…
Photo by Greg Rakozy / Unsplash You cannot see the Mothership in space, It and She being made of the same thing. All our mothers hover there in the ceaseless blue-black, watching it ripple and dim…
Greenwood, by Jimmy Friday, 24 x 36 in. Magazine clippings on poster board. It was the day of brutal winds, all of them ganging up to blow injustice down. They sang the changing weather. I w…
Courtesy of the Greenwood Cultural Center Lord, he was born a pesky question. Know he always wore the danger hour of dusk. The white folks named his skin impossible. He teetered, balanced on the N…
“Chinese Factory” by danielfoster437 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 Chinese Workers I am a Chinese worker Our revolutionary comrades are found in every corner of the Earth Perhaps consciousl…
I settle my body and soul down in this small town Its lychee orchards, its streets A little deck in the assembly line The rain wets my head, again and again I rest my ideals, love, dreams, and yo…
Photo by K. Mitch Hodge / Unsplash Fingertips Can you feel how the tips of my fingers vibrate in a scream? I am a simple woman of autumn, flesh tanned from the end of summer leaves me longing for…
Photo by Samuel Scrimshaw / Unsplash [Untitled] We lived on the edge of a poisonous swamp black alligators bathed in it every morning the exhaust tubes clamored and at noon we…
Caption We received our Canadian citizenship at the immigration office between Costco and the highway. For the ceremony we were asked to turn off our phones. We raised our right hand. Swore alle…
Photo by Barbara Zandoval on Unsplash A Poem for Nitzan I smuggled you across the border, that no hand of those who find joy in their labor might touch you no hand of those dealing in blood, t…
Paul Klee, Angelus Novus, 1920, oil transfer and watercolor on paper, 31.8 x 24.2 cm, Israel Museum, Jerusalem Angelus Novus On Friday nights, when the family’s asleep and…
Photo by Sean Thomas / Unsplash return oh, that fish could swim through my garden again! Stately as whale sharks, speckled pacifists, or goldfish freed from small glass domes like…
What is the reason for your visit, Embera Wera?1 You’ve walked fourteen hours through the muddy night, you’ve crossed an entire mountain range to see me, even knowing the demon moana la…
Ebony and ivory / Photo by Blondinrikard Fröberg / Flickr for Lida Berberian I remember when I couldn’t read music; The pile of unfamiliar books lay listless; my hands glided across every…
Photo by Quinn Dombrowski / Flickr Colonists Over there in that urban landscape where two trees are barely distinguishable, decades ago there was a river overwhelming and sweet t…
Photo: Alonso Sambolín, “Revolution” Juggling Urban Psychosis The cage has turned into a bird and it has flown away my heart has lost its mind – Alejandra Pizarnik We set free birds of a…
Caption Improvise walking along the Piedras River, January 25, 2020 improvising by the Río Piedras resume the fibers of my voice years have gone by since I named cliffs yea…
José Ángel Vega Ortiz, Casi-banderas (Almost-flags), 2018, woodcut on paper, 14 x 17 in. Don’t Suicide All the roads lead to you, but be careful with all the bumps on the r…
Damaris Cruz, Fuego Camina Conmigo, @damalola / Courtesy of the artist (note for a friend who wants to commit suicide after the hurricane) no one teaches us to accept death because death, th…
Photo: Anahi Martinez / Unsplash Then My Daughter Turned to her toys and said the first to realize will be those who watch over the air; those who survive will stay away from ma…
Photo: Giancarlo Revolledo / Unsplash Limbo One day I placed a rock on top of your name and I said to myself: I’ll go singing all the way home. And I sang like a wild woman on pow…
Photo by Paul Gilmore / Unsplash The Clock of the Long Now will operate knowing it will lose the correct time, exposed as it will be to imprecise temperatures, stellar and solar alignments, tectonic…
December 12, 2023
October 24, 2023
