whenever i see a poem on the internet that stops me in my tracks, The Millennial Screenshot Reflex kicks in. my desktop and iPhone photo album are littered with scraps and screen caps and other people’s photos of these words that moved me, in all myriad of fonts and pixelations.

“Care is the antidote to violence,” notes Saidiya Hartman (h/t Claire Schwartz). and in the tweet proverbs of David Dark, “God remembers everything violence forgets.”

i think that is why i crave the keeping in this way. poetry is a balm of care and remembrance. in all of the turbulent violence of our days, i am holding fast to how these words widen my bandwidth for all things tender and gentle and kind. here’s a bundle to share.

with care,

m

 

p.s.

Paige Lewis’ truth-telling here feels like a CAT scan,

I’m / the vice president of panic, and the president is / missing.

notsomuch a tender/gentle/kind number but a starting point all the same

< 3

 

 

 

 

 

by Ishmael Reed

 

 

 

 

 

 

from “RED” by Chase Berggrun

 

 

by Aracelis Girmay

 

(This poem makes me think of the song Feed The Birds from Mary Poppins. I cried whenever this scene came on as a kid!!!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

let us keep beholding tender things < 3