To write a peace poem
A late elementary school (middle grades and up) exercise for writing a peace poem.
Independence 2018
I want to remember Independence Day for the ideals of the United States, which it has almost never lived up to. As Langston Hughes titled his famous poem: “Let America Be America Again.” Of course, he adds later: “(It never was America to me.)”
In a petri dish world | 3 poems | James Dennis Casey IV
Three social-political activist poems from James D. Casey IV on Meta/ Phor(e) /Play.
speak poetry | poem | Michael Dickel
The voices speak poetry even as so much else happens, including the poet going out | Michael Dickel | Meta/ Phor(e) /Play
Sunday brunch Tuesday
Deconstruction
I’ll take your hyper-inflated
phallus, ego-distended balloon,
id-fueled hot-air engine…
Hybrid: Warm Hunger
This hybrid between non-fiction, found poetry, & experimental-performance poetry connects hunger-stress-climate change and war. It hints at a desire for peace, & harmony.
Circumstances (poem)
Circumstances My eyes shutter closed. Sirens scream because what else could they say? A bomb went off in a bus just up the street from here, down from the ice cream shop, “Whipped Cream.” The kids and I walked out of it about an hour before. No one […]
W/rites and Rhapsodies
Adeena Karasick and Michael Dickel will host an exciting tour of Israel that will hit highlights but also delve into the unusual. Throughout, the tour will inspire, prompt, encourage you to write with workshops, performances, and lots of deep language play.
Winter window—a poem with art
Winter window Outside the opportune window one pink head survives above geranium leaves blowing in the winter wind, covered with cold rain dropped from dimmed desire. The basil released its hope in the face of the war— forces of December and January— mere stalks rising above the window box, darkly silhouetted, […]
Non-State Terror Attacks
Using a Wikipedia list, even with all of its faults, provides a sobering view of terror in the world. The countries listed below were the sites of at least one and often several terror attacks in the last (almost) three years. Some of those attacks resulted only in injuries, most […]
Message on an asteroid…
. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. The clock sounds. But time has stopped here. It ended when night fell over us all. We thought that time had pressed on, but this was an illusion. The spreading of blood across a full moon and darkening of a sun had fooled […]
Three (a poem)
Three One lies restless in the small hours, the dead of night— three in the morning and worried about medical motorcycles whizzing past a wife on her way home from work this evening— distressed about tear gas and bullets fired into Gazans at the border fence West Bank rioters— hounded […]
War Surrounds Us
“Michael Dickel’s new book is an explosive tour de force. From Breaking News to all that shivers beneath the surface, it takes us on a visceral ride as the rockets are falling through screaming surfaces, tunnels cease fires and death tolls; rocketing all night through missiles, mortars, sensors, sirens, […]
Klezmer evenings…a poem from Tzfat
In Tzfat this Evening The Klezmer festival music plays on and the fireworks blast into the sky exactly on time at ten, brilliant and loud. But the ceasefire broke apart before then, hours before—and Code Red sirens blasted in the South, in Tel Aviv, in Jerusalem, shortly after […]
A Poem from Jerusalem
As the War Continues i That war in the little southwest strip, its violence drowns out all sounds— words drain of meaning and become white spaces against blood-red paper. The numbers rise up, a large pile of bodies reaching toward the sun to ignite and burn, a pyre […]
Jerusalem Update—11–12 July 2014
Friday was quiet for us in Jerusalem. In the morning we met with friends with whom we share Johrei, an alternative Japanese energy-healing practice. We included the situation and region in our meditation and prayers for peace. Other than making sure we knew where the safe area was […]
Jerusalem Update—10 July 2014
Aviva and the children are asleep on this hot summer’s night. Today the temperature reached 36 C., well into the 90s F., and it hasn’t cooled as much as usual yet. Unfortunately, the heat of conflict also was high. We are all fine, of course, other than Moshe’s […]
Second Jerusalem Update—Another Letter, 9 July 2014
After last night’s excitement with the alert sirens and bomb shelter foray, things quieted down here. Apparently rocket fire from Gaza also slowed down in the night, but picked up again in the morning. While Tel Aviv and Ben Gurion Airport have had rocket attacks today, according to […]
Meta/ Phor(e) /Play 