Viola Liuzzo

They spun her too, this
mother of five from Detroit
because this is what
they do- paint them as
terrorists domestic
defamation is necessary
to deflect from
the murder
this is what they do
nothing new to
see here
same old same old
stand up for your
neighbors
your fellow human travelers
and you too
will be trashed
by the powerful.

In a world of
trash talkers
stand up anyways
it is the only thing
to do
isn’t it?

1/2026

Gold

They say that it
cannot stay
but why would you
want it to?
Better the bluebird
iridescent
in a flutter
or the bark of hackberry
grooving on the river.

The world is made of precious
true with breath and soul
reminding me of
every bit of soil – the
youth I came from
life so glorious around
leave the gaudy behind us
dance to leaf
music of the frog.

12/2025

Delores Haze

They had to flee
actors
directors
in the crosshairs
between truth
and dystopia
life under dictators
of a religious bend

sacred fig
how your seed does grow

this is why I
listen to the cardinal sing –
chip –
move from
branch to branch –
they know, this pair,
dependent upon each other
that predators with
beaks that grind
and claws that strike
loom everywhere

this is why I
stand my ground
tell the truth

fleeing is not a life
not when places
to flee to
disappear forever.

8/2025

Sources include ‘Reading Lolita in Tehran’ by Azar Nafisi and the movie ‘The seed of the sacred fig’.

50,000 names

How long does it take
to recite 50,000 names
due process on the run
from those who are detained
the landscapers
the pickers
they clean your toilets too
oh what will you do
what will you do
the names – they are recording
so let us start with this
perhaps fifty in a minute
more or less more or less
the better part of a day
will bring them home to rest
50,000 names
more or less more or less
due process unobtainable
when the jesters are in charge
the stain will last forever
like the face of Emmett Till
the face of Emmett Till
he haunts us still.

7-26-2025

Sacred spaces

The birds are singing here –
this April morning
chaffinches and blackbirds and tits
give a chorus of delight
and a wood pigeon has
found material to build
a nest and I wonder
was this song this music
rising then? April 1945
when a previous generations
of Americans entered here
this route I walk from
the barracks to the
crematorium
the land soaked in
disregard for due process
truth
honor
and I can’t help
but wonder
where the dog killer woman
prances in front of
men in cages will
El Salvador have a
place steeped
in the sacred too?

April 2025
Dachau

The Danes

They have dealt with this
before-
in a previous century
aggression
invasion
occupation
bent on torture
demeaning
dehumanizing
less than
you know how it goes

-they have dealt with this
before-
don’t assume they will break
they did not break
when Christian* held the crown

Dear sweet Greenland
they will not break now

*Christian X King of Denmark from 1912-1947

4/4/2025

The Morass

There was a photographer –
I read about him –
who went to the wetlands
to photograph a bird,
a red winged blackbird
early enough in the morning
to catch the bird’s breath

And of course this is where
he came – the edge of the
world, land foundering in
the notion of ownership
as if anything wild
can actually be owned

But it is here deep
in the woods
on the banks of
rivers great or not
in the grasslands and
in the mirk
these squawkers of
the sky migrate in
numbers that throw
a blanket upwards
in the spring and the
fall – a good time
to see them breathe

out here, on the edge
in this bog
this fen
this quagmire
this marsh
this wetland
this muskeg

this swamp

Just like the
breath of a blackbird
Mother Nature will rise
she will rise
she will rise
she will rise

2-17-2025

Christmas in Ecuador

Darwin thought he was ugly
Amblyrhynchus cristatus*
this agile swimmer
with a diet of algae
but oh how they light up
near each other
like a tree in glory
with a star on top
mating brings out the
jewels they truly
are in this place where
the two legged beast
Homo sapiens that
breeder of malevolence
has barely tried to live

Seems water might be
necessary after all –
not optional –
which the ruler-deciders
are trying to make us
believe

These creatures dressed
in green and red show
no fear of me
perhaps they know that
to be so isolated is
to be ignored
perhaps being ignored is
enough to save them
when the ruler-deciders
also known as life-breakers
mange to kill
even themselves.

1/2025

*Scientific name of the marine iguana. The Christmas iguana is a possible subspecies, Venustissimus, located on the island of Espanola. These iguanas are found only in the Galapagos Islands.