Month: February 2026

Recently, a friend* turned me on to a book that I thought I should share with you. It’s a most informative book and a great read. The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America’s Banana King by Rich Cohen (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012, 242 pp.) received rave reviews when first…

Everyone knewWhat to expectThe President speakingLike the Indians sayWith a “forked tongue”Spewing lies and hateSewing seeds of discordSame ploy alwaysSeeking power and winsAnything goes The nation limps alongRife with woundsSolving naughtThe wars continueUnrest at homeThe losers Americans all What hurts the mostIs our fraudulent selvesOur failure to seeComplicity and contemptCombined to excuseThe sin of fear The…

I frequently ask myself why voters don’t elect better people to represent them. A quick poll of elected office holders around the country tells us that there are plenty of questionable representatives holding office who repeatedly get reelected. The framers of our Constitution gave us a splendid, if imperfect, government; they seemed to think of…

Birds fly Our airlines try Without the grace With great effort Smoke and noise For what, you ask For speed and ego Cause we can But why, I wonder Given the labor The hurried time Rush to the seats Stacked like sardines Uncomfortable Bored The fat man near Taking up your space A promise of…

I’ve been out of town for several days and just got back after a wonderful time visiting friends and family in Texas. The trip back was a bit dicey as high winds bounced us about and we landed during a tornado watch. Safely home, I was happy to take up my morning ritual with the…

I wish I had more lives to give Witnessing the evil as I age Foisted upon us by ungrateful politicos More interested in themselves, lucre and unhinged hate I wish I had more lives to give To banish my guilt and pay my debt For the life I’ve lived, carefree and secure Owing all to…

This is one of my attempts at writing poetry, doggerel or just stringing words together that make sense to me at the time. In this case, I’ve tried to express some thoughts about how it feels for many of us to be experiencing the awful politics of today – how depressing and pessimistic thoughts prevail…

As I study the political landscape and listen to the maddening cries of many, I have to ask: is it time to take the desperate step toward rebellion; not revolution, but nonviolent protests and civil disobedience? This is the fifth year of Trump at the helm and from all available evidence, our nation continues to…

A good friend, a poet, recently sent me this poem from a fellow poet, thinking it might be appropriate for the Potlatch Tertulia. Though the poem is ten years old, I think it speaks to us now and helps us understand what we might do during this time of national angst. Doing Nothing by Dan…

Everything I’m about to say, you’ve probably heard before ad nauseam. So why am I saying it? Because I have to talk to someone; the pain and shame of watching our government self-destruct and become something that defies description has become intolerable, like a migraine headache, a terminal illness, a bankruptcy, a feeling of homelessness…