“Start of Spring” is one of 14 climate change indicators. It tracks the start of spring for each year, using model estimations of when enough heat has accumulated to initiate growth (leafing and flowering) in temperature-sensitive plants. Observed changes in the start of spring reflect the overall warming trend in the climate system. (U.S. Global Change Research Program)
Category: Social Commentary
Evidence: Frog
Green Frog (Rana clamitans)
“At night I went out into the dark and saw a glimmering star and heard a frog, and Nature seemed to say, Well do not these suffice?” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
Photo ©2017, Jen Payne, from the upcoming book Evidence of Flossing: What We Leave Behind. Quote: Emerson, Ralph Waldo. The Heart of Emerson’s Journals.
Sugar and Spice
No. I won’t BE NICE.
Don’t for a moment think
it’s not my right to ask the questions.
No. I will not SIT DOWN AND BEHAVE.
Do not speak to my protest
with that patronizing tone.
No. I will not quell my laugh.
Do not think your CONVICTION
changes my outrage.
No. I will not stop.
No. I will not stop.
No. I will not stop.
That’s what little girls are made of.
Poem ©2017, Jen Payne. Photo of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke being an ass courtesy of Huffington Post.
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Random Acts: Margaret Mead
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” ― Margaret Mead
Buy the bumper sticker now and spread the word: Commit Random Acts of Writing + Art.
Sunday at the Dollar Store
She steers her cart
like the cars in the parkin’ lot
after St. Mary’s 9am mass.
Why, salvation is in sight
there in that votive aisle
where the Sacred Heart a-Jesus
costs only a dollar
and she knows that’s way
cheaper’n penance and a tithe.
Poem ©2017, Jen Payne. National Poetry Month, 16.
Yay, Bombs!
In my ear
Joni sings
They won’t give peace a chance
That was just a dream some of us had
while a fighter jet passes and social media erupts
with news of Raytheon stocks rising
ERECT
but hardened hearts are not so enthused
nor easily seduced by the economic
BOOM!
This is no war cry
on my cheek,
but sympathy for a race
still lost.
Poem ©2017, Jen Payne. National Poetry Month, 7. Photo from IMS Vintage Photos.
Random Acts: Howard Zinn
“Protest beyond the law is not a departure from democracy; it is absolutely essential to it.” ― Howard Zinn
