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We sit together.  Jane Fonda and JB Pritzger deliver joint addresses for everyone everywhere.  Their grasp of this dangerous moment and their abilities to communicate it—their mutual belief in the power of kindness and empathy to both endure and defeat tyranny.  Fonda: “We are in our documentary moment. It is not a rehearsal….  So let’s be brave.”  Pritzger: “The root that tears apart your house’s foundation begins as a seed….  Seeds of Nazis started with everyday Germans looking for someone to blame.”

The beauty of human hands.  Hearing is believing.  His fingers and voice in flight, guitarist Lindsey Buckingham vows that he’s “Never Going Back Again.”  Hey now, enough, he reiterates,  “been down one time / been down two time.”  Haven’t we been down one time, now two times, too?  Want to find out what it means to win?  “Yeahhhhhhhh.”  Stevie Nicks blends her voice with Buckingham’s.  Yeah.   

 hints that springtime nears

democracy calls our names

as we swim birds sing  

When Lucille Clifton asks, “won’t you celebrate with me,” we answer yes.  What does this Black woman decide when she finds no model for how to create her life?  “what did i see but to be myself?” she responds.  The poet fastens her hands and makes her life of “starshine and clay.”  What does a boy from the staunchly-segregated south long to do before he dies?  Jimmy Carter casts his ballot for Kamala Harris.  Won’t you celebrate the 39th president with me?

“Give me hope, help me cope / with this heavy load,” George Harrison sang and strummed with three of his British friends in 1973.  Wrong weighs like a wet blanket on our souls.  Performing his song years later, Harrison’s prayer remains ours: “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth).”  Hearts seek light—hands want holding.

twenty-twenty-five / give us love…connect the dots… / our new-fashioned plans 

Learn new dance moves.  Clear the mind.  Take a walk.  Hold hands.  Have faith in a new generation of leaders.  Discover and support winning coalitions.  Focus on efforts to reverse the deadend course ahead. light at tunnel’s end - night stars and morning glory -  positivity

finish line in sight / excitement for the future / keep pushing forward.... 

nine long trauma years / Kamala Harris rising / joy repairs our hearts

speeches songs poems / DNC plans push forward / haiku trip with me. now 5-7-5 / counting fingers, tap-tap toes / wings for your rhythm.

Showing no discernible ego, Coach Walz takes the field to win her presidency.  “It is the honor of a lifetime to join Kamala Harris in this campaign.  I’m all in.  She’s showing us the politics of what’s possible.  It reminds me a bit of the first day of school.” Their devotion to country.  Their no-nonsense common sense.  Their wellspring of joy.

Is this small-town news?  Yes, Newbern, Alabama.  Is i more than a small-town story?  Yes, it’s as big as the United States. Is this a baseball story?  Yes, two Hall of Fame ballplayers.  Is it more than a baseball story?  Yes, it is the story of the United States.   Do we face problems in the United States?  Yes, incalculable problems.  Are there solutions?  Yes, once shock and despair give way to action and hope.     

Two worthies of Ken Burns’s documentary camera: Simone Biles and Alvin Bragg.  This democracy deserves our whole hog, sleeves rolled up, skin in the game commitment. You deserve poetry and music. rock the house tonight / all colors touching our hearts / panoply of song.

Let’s remember. Let’s go to New York.  Meet two dreamers, Alicia Keys and Hakeem Jeffries. Let’s dream. Let’s dance. Let’s pretend (not really!).

four-legged Luna / watches her namesake show off / best moon pie dog treat. The wind hints at rain so we see grandpa off and head for home, its windows “brazen in the setting sun.” pansy faces wink / as four Beatles sing their song / “I Want to Hold Your Hand”  

Gloria Johnson, Letitia James, Bayard Rustin...Trust, Activism, Determination. "Nothing that’s easy is worth it / Nothing that’s worth it is perfect, yeah.”  Yeah.  Hearing someone say “I would take it all for ya.”  Yeah.  Saying to someone “I would take it all for ya.” Yeah. "Let It Be Me" sing the Backstreet Boys.  

Yes, bravehearts, Harry Dunn and E. Jean Carroll. And two more for Valentine’s Day. Exquisite sweetness.  Two songs—two songstresses.  Back then—right now.  Comeback players—heart massagers.     

From samba and tapas to voting rights and college hoops. Maybe a poem now. Two?  Perhaps a song. Dos? I think I see you.  Quaffing our tumblers, here’s to beauty’s sweetest sweep.