“[Poetry] can awaken us, from our sloth, even yet.” Denise Levertov

"What we are witnessing is grand scale theft. These public institutions belong to us, the American people. We’ve funded them through our taxes for all the years we have paid taxes. In return we get the benefits. Disease eradication, rivers that don’t catch on fire..." - Melissa Tuckey

Alison Hawthorne Deming is a longtime friend of Orion (and an instructor at this year’s Orion Environmental Writers’ Workshop). Here, she corresponds with Alice Bell on the role of hope in the climate crisis, the problem of hiding in history, and more. buff.ly/i0STlRg

A story about living with and learning from a lizard named Squeaky. buff.ly/oJ9sxCf

After a long day-week-month-year so far, picked a favorite human up from the train station and paused to take in this light, together. Gathering beautiful moments, gathering light.

A small patch of “snow globes” bobbing on a cold winter breeze. A portend, a cairn, nature’s simple beauty as an act of resistance?

An important time to lift these voices.

Poetry and flowers. Panaceas, joyful resistance.

Speak out, rest, speak out—repeat!

“I live in a diorama of days extending out into what I cannot imagine. At the furthest reach, I long for a red-winged blackbird on a fence post in a pasture full of daisies.” J Moon

DOGE employee Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old high school grad who goes by "Big Balls" and owns porn site Tesla dot Sexy, a criminal hacker who solicited illegal cyberattack-for-hire, has full access highly sensitive US computer systems. He also runs Russian websites. www.wired.com/story/edward...

Two favorites, Anna and Jane, their intermingled breath of a line on the page.

Need a good distraction? I suggest a few lovely poems here to ground you.

If you give me 2 minutes, I'll read you a poem and tell you about this book by @joshrobbinswrites.bsky.social. 😊 youtube.com/shorts/1f9CS...

February 2, 2025

Toxic, toxins, cancer, ideograms, men, women, and the old/new president: Elizabeth Jacobson's searing Letter to America, "America, Here We Go Again!" has it all. Don't miss this one. https://www.terrain.org/2025/poetry/letter-to-america-jacobson/

Daniel Seifert's "Calming exercise for the 21st Century" is a welcome and no doubt essential Letter to America poem for Inauguration Day. https://www.terrain.org/2025/poetry/letter-to-america-seifert/ #poem #poetry #poet #politicalpoetry #winter

Here's a peaceful moment for you, with a hooded merganser on the Salish Sea. Breath on the water.

I wrote this for a Storyknife alum, but maybe we all need it: Please remember that your job is to bring your individual talent to the world in service of the stories that will help the people that find them. We cannot fix everything or reach everyone, but we can do our work with all our hearts.

*and move to BlueSky

Our Spring Poetry List is here! Celebrate the season with powerful voices & breathtaking words. Pre-order now and support indie artists directly. Your purchase helps us keep creating wild, inclusive spaces for poetry. Browse and pre-order: wayfarerbookstore.com #IndiePublishing #Poetry

🌿📚 Hello, Bluesky! We’re Wayfarer Books, publishing the cryptic, floral, queer-at-heart voices reshaping the world. Since 2012, we’ve inspired action & change-making through literature. Leaving platforms that don’t reflect our values, we’re building wild, inclusive futures. wayfarerbooks.org

Revamped my substack. God, I love the word Revamp! It's so unintentionally sexy. The site: A bit more professional, loads less bloggy. renpowell.substack.com #playwright

"Writing a little bit each day is akin to leaving the faucets dripping on a cold January night; while the ideas are flowing the creative pipes won’t freeze." ~ @marthasilano.bsky.social

The Salem Poetry Festival is February 27, 28, and March 1. Come help us celebrate place and our words. This free event with three venues and many poets is going to be deep and fun and memorable. Watch for more details.

Gathering light.

The last week is a blur. Reading, writing, walking, and offering feedback on a manuscript. Birdsong and an impromptu visit to the museum both panaceas.