poetry
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Martha Root — An Astonishing Life
Today I am at a Baha’i meeting, and I want to say thank you for the blessing of having such times in my life. To each and every soul who helps to make so many of those gatherings a veritable corner of paradise — thank you. This morning we are reflecting on the life of Martha Root, a woman whose life was inspired and transformed by Bahá’u’lláh. We will be reading about her life as introduced on the website bahaiteachings.org. I hope you can join us in spirit and read along. In one of his earlier works, the Hidden Words, Bahá’u’lláh observes that “words are the property of all alike” and that “guidance hath ever been given…
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Peace Bell
In Cowra, the Peace Bell tolls a warning, And magpies caw their raucous and wry chorus in reply. Their voices reach a quiet graveyard, An unusual place, Here Japanese mothers and children sleep. So far from home – they are not forgotten. ANZACS sleep nearby -almost – almost – beside them. They too attract the living – not forgotten. How strange, the earth’s embrace draws them so close. The Peace Bell tolls a warning. Keep them out the shrill galah shrieks And fearful faces turn to listen, hatred rising in their eyes. Across the plain a musty folk museum lies, Its most sacred relic, a roll-up flag. Turn them out the galah…
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The Poetry of Langston Hughes
Racism and problems of race relations continue to generate injustice and racial animosity around the world. The problem is not confined to any one people or country, but the case of the United States is better known in the English speaking world. The poetry of Langston Hughes comes from a period in which racism had reached a peak – what is known as the “Jim Crow” era. The United States civil war ended slavery, but it didn’t end racism. Gradually racism took a stronger hold in society and by the early 20th century it gave rise to toxic theories of racial supremacy and scientific racism. A fierce segregation was instituted between…
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Alain Locke on Identity and Human Rights
Of Alain Locke, Martin Luther King Jr. said: “We’re going to let our children know that the only philosophers that lived were not Plato and Aristotle, but W. E. B. Du Bois and Alain Locke came through the universe.” In this article we explore an idea in the work of Alain Locke – the idea that identity and oppression are related to each other. That the pathway to emancipation is through re-imagining our identity. Early on he explored these themes in the introduction he wrote to his 1925 anthology titled “The New Negro“. The tribute above, particularly from Martin Luther King, calls for greater attention to Alain Locke’s philosophy and…
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Leo’s Letter
Leo was worried. He had crossed an ocean and fled a new and terrible tyrant, as a continent fell under his power. But the ocean was not wide enough. And he was afraid. Soon, the tyrant might have a weapon to which there would be no answer. Leo, you see, worked with the tiniest, most invisible of things. And he had discovered that they could be linked together in a daisy chain of power and death. And in it he thought he also saw a crown for human knowledge. But others, across the ocean, also knew of these invisible things. So Leo worried. And Leo went to his friend Albert.…
