On the Precipice.

The situation in the Middle East continues to expand and I fear that it may be a dynamic beyond stopping if action is not take soon. Our misleadership is part of the problem. We must be the solution. Some folks are getting it, I recieved this in my email today:
"Over the weekend an ad hoc group of Jewish leaders in Los Angeles denounced Israel's collective punishment attacks on civilians and their infrastructure. It is time for Congress to do the same thing, and to back it up with a threat to cut off all military aid and foreign assistance to Israel.

We have no direct influence on Hamas or Hezbollah. But we are currently giving Israel $2.5 billion dollars a year in foreign aid, most of it direct military assistance. It is time for us to stop being apologists for the inexcusable. It it time to demand Israel conduct itself as a civilized nation or we're cutting them off.Congressmust lead where the president will not.

Call your members of Congress NOW at 888-355-3588 or 800-828-0498 and demand action."

This is a positive effort and desrves our support.

On another note, it is difficult in times like these to maintain our sanity, to cling to the best of what makes us human when vengeance and war threaten to tear our world apart. As a publisher I try to find and publish poetry that speaks to our humanity and our better values in a way that inspires. I have recently published a collection of work by the poet and activist, Peggy Sapphire called A Possible Explanation. The poem in this collection have to do with her upbringing as the child of holocaust survivors who were progressive and suffered for it. These are poems both deeply personal and highly political that remind us that there is really no separation between the two. These poems speak out against racism, fascism and sexism. This is the kind of collection that reminds us of who we are and what we are struggling against. This is food for the soul to nourish us even in the scarcity of humanity.