The Japanese are working themselves to death. Labor activists have been trying to draw attention to the problem of karoshi, or death from overwork, for decades. Reliable statistics can’t be found, because it’s hard to prove causation in the case of someone who, say, worked 36 hours in a row several times in the same month and then died of […]
Read more
Shut – By, Melissa R. Mendelson White porcelain faces in this river that I still drown in, pulled under by their world. Painted eyes closed and plastic smiles, their faces drift by as I continue to struggle to stand. Chorus: Will you see me? Will you open your eyes? Can you take me in? Let me be […]
Read more
“Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody expects of you. Never excuse yourself.” ― Henry Ward Beecher
Read more
Cremation I’ve always believed in cremation; Flames bleach the world, unclutter living things. Let scum survivors, grasshoppers Leave cemeteries a mess Of living impulses dismembered. Not knowing fire’s totality But sickly honouring it stunting In tortured carbon stench. I’ve always believed in cremation Ever since I read of great skull mountains; Those potash handfuls are so clean […]
Read more
What happened A United Nations panel of the world’s leading environmental scientists issued its most dire warnings on the dangers posed by climate change, saying global warming is already affecting every continent and threatens to devastate food supplies, cause mass extinctions of plants and animals, worsen droughts, and raise the risk of wars over resources. The longer society holds off […]
Read more
From the Alcove As I peep through my window From the alcove, A theater starts its never ending show From dawn to dusk Of street goers, Pedestrians heading towards their work, Some striding some slithering unwillingly, Now a street urchin, bare feet strolls Scavenging for a trinket or food, Women of all ages walking In the sweltering heat of summer […]
Read more
HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN (PART I) A shame to imagine how moon is just A memory distant we’ve almost lost. Appears that we only pursued in jest To travel in space — 50 years have passed. Today’s generation cannot conceive Of passionate fervor with which we strove To land first on moon — such a matter […]
Read more
“I learned to believe in freedom, to glow when the word democracy was used, and to practice slavery from morning to night. I learned it the way all of my Southern people learn it: by closing door after door until ones mind and heart and conscience are blocked off from each other and from reality.” – Lillian Smith
Read more