Two roads diverged in a wood and I --

The last lines of Robert Frost's well-known poem, The Road Not Taken, are:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Donald Trump is a master of misdirection and unless we're careful, he will have us racing down the wrong road and that will make all the difference.

Americans who have over the years considered themselves liberal in the modern sense of the term,  associated with or, like myself, migrated to the Democratic Party, because it, as a whole, best reflected our values. There is no "liberal" party. The term liberal has evolved over the years and still has different meanings in different parts of the world. I take my personal meaning of liberal from the speech by John F. Kennedy, delivered in 1960 -- my Junior Year at USC -- in which he said,

"...liberalism is not so much a party creed or a set of fixed platform promises as it is an attitude of mind and heart, a faith in man's ability through the experiences of his reason and judgment to increase for himself and his fellow men the amount of Justice and freedom and brotherhood which all human life deserves."

There's an IDEOLOGICAL battle within (as well as against) both camps of the traditional establishment parties. Trump has taken the Republican Party by the throat and shaken the moderation out of it, but there are still moderates who identify as Republicans and conservatives, who feel completely set adrift.

Independents who, according to a March 2019 Gallup poll, actually make up a larger percentage of the voting population than either Democrats or Republicans, swung the 2016 election for Trump with many thinking he would become "more presidential" once in office.

The POLITICAL battle before us is between Republicans, led by Donald J. Trump, and Democrats, with Tom Perez as prima facie leader. Perez is Chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). That, however, does not make him the leader of the left. Bernie Sanders emerged as the leader of the "old new left" in 2016, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made a meteoric rise to lead the "new new left" in 2018 when she defeated Congressman Joe Crowley, the boss of the Queens County Democratic Party and someone widely thought to be the next speaker of the House.

In order to win in 2020 against Trump and his far-right faction of the Republican Party, the currently balkanized left must form strong coalitions with the same goal (if not the exact same platform) of ousting the monster in the White House.

For the next twenty months, in order to avoid the catastrophe of an 8-year Trump Presidency, establishment Democrats, Justice Democrats, Progressives, Democratic Socialists, and other "left and left-leaning" organizations need to find common ground and work together to achieve the common end -- the end of Trump. To do this, they must bring Independents into the fold, which will be tricky, given the leftward lean of the coalition.

This doesn't mean that Justice Democrats must "knuckle under" to Tom Perez and Cheri Bustos and toe the party line. It means meaningful dialogue free of recriminations geared toward goal-oriented compromise. If they can't do that, maybe they don't deserve to the lead the nation. Chances are, they won't anyway.

DONALD TRUMP will continue tweet about the themes that rile his base; "illegal immigration," "infanticide," "fake news," the Mueller "witch hunt," countries taking advantage of America, from China on trade to NATO countries on defense, and the old reliable, Hillary Clinton emails. Whenever the news cycle tilts against him, he finds a way to alter the balance by saying or doing something outlandish, but generally inconsequential. When he's actually done something outrageous and consequential, like separating families and their children at the border, he tries to pass the blame off on someone else, e.g., Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

Trump will also attempt to probe divisions he spots within the opposition, like the Bernie and Biden factions arguing over which candidate has the worst record with women. The fact that Trump himself is a serial abuser doesn't stop him. He's glad to bring others into his orbit. Democrats must avoid eating their own. If they don't, Trump will serve up plenty of "what about ism."

Finally, as 2020 draws nearer, Trump will brag about all that he's accomplished and make more promises about the great things he's going to do in his second term, e.g., he just promised that when he's reelected in 2020, he will implement the greatest health care plan ever. Yes folks, he is indeed a con man.

Democrats -- center, left, moderate, new and old -- must avoid barking at the moon -- avoid responding angrily to Trump's attempts at misdirection and stick to the issues that resonate with the majority of Americans. And believe me, when Democrats control the White House, the Senate, and the House, we will see a great health care system enacted -- because no matter what their leanings, Democrats believe in serving the people, and that will make all the difference.

National Poetry Month: Climate Change

Kayaking along Market Street

The waters are rising

Inundating islands

occupied by the innocent

Surging over cities seething

with the unrepentant

Kayaking along Market Street

enjoying the novelty

Until Charleston became a swamp
_________________________________________

According to our government's Fourth National Climate Assessment Report, the social, economic, and environmental systems along the coasts are being affected by climate change. Threats from sea level rise (SLR) are exacerbated by dynamic processes such as high tide and storm surge flooding, erosion, waves and their effects, saltwater intrusion into coastal aquifers and elevated groundwater table, local rainfall, river runoff, increasing water and surface air temperature, and ocean acidification.

Although storms, floods, and erosion have always been hazards, in combination with rising sea levels they now threaten approximately $1 trillion in national wealth held in coastal real estate and the continued viability of coastal communities that depend on coastal water, land, and other resources for economic health and cultural integrity. The effects of the coastal risks posed by a changing climate already are and will continue to be experienced in both intersecting and distinct ways, and coastal areas are already beginning to take actions to address and ameliorate these risks. Charleston is one such city. Others are ignoring them, or even prohibiting their mention in city planning documents.

April 2019 is National Poetry Month

According to T.S. Eliot, "April is the cruelest month...," It's also National Poetry Month, the largest literary celebration in the world. Go to poets.org to see 30 ways to celebrate National Poetry Month.

I will post one poem every week of April, each on a different topic I care about: #ClimateChange, #Immigration, #GunViolence, #Poverty, and a bonus on #Genomics. I invite you to do the same.

Eliot's poem, The Waste Land, from which the lines, "April is the cruelest month" come, ends:
Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata.
Shantih shantih shantih

You may be familiar with these terms if you practice or have studied Hinduism and/or Buddhism. I haven't, but when I first read the poem in my "formative years," I looked them up, and then followed the threads to Buddhism and flirted with becoming a monk. Unfortunately, I was not permitted to wear a robe and sandals in the military, so abandoned that flirtation, and instead focused my amorous attentions on a pretty Air Force nurse who was tending to my ills. That led to a sudden profusion of love poems, too embarrassing to publish.

In this time of Trump, I hope for you,
Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata
Shantih

Remembering My Mother on Mothers' Day 2017

My mother, Nella, had a favorite expression; “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” She lived her life in a way that embodied that saying.

Nella was raised by an aunt in a little village in the hills of Tuscany, Italy. There was little work to be had in Italy and Nella’s mother and father were working in France, she as a wet nurse, he as a shoemaker. Deficient nourishment resulted in Nella contracting a form of polio. The doctors told her mother that Nella would have to wear braces for the rest of life. A decade later (1918), Nella was walking off the ship, Conte Verde, at Ellis Island unaided.

The family settled in Chicago and Nella, 4’ 11” on her tip toes, learned English and defended herself fiercely against school bullies who picked on the new immigrants. She graduated from high school, got a business school certificate, and at 20 years-old, set out on her own for California, where she worked during the day as a hospital switchboard operator and studied ballet in the evenings at the Earl Wallace Studios. She presented the Italian version of the Paul Whiteman movie, The King of Jazz, in 1930, and was about to go on tour with the Earl Wallace Dancers when she met and married my dad. They were together for 76 years.

My mother’s admonition to never give up and her encouragement of my aspirations were the foundation of whatever success I’ve had in life, and the enduring respect I have for those early intrepid immigrants to America’s land of opportunity.

I'm Thinking of Her

Jacobs Road, Kennewick, WA, May 2017

I don't know how to pray

or to whom

or what

or why

I know the sky

the grass

the flowers

and speak with them

In whispers

"I'm thinking of her"

Again?

"Always"

Fargo 2017

Ewan McGreagor as Ray Stussy in Season 3 of the TV drama, Fargo, tells his parolee girlfriend (and accomplice), Nikki Swango (Mary Elizabeth Wingstead), "I ain't never killed nobody before." Nikki pats him on the arm and says, "Life's a journey."

Eating the Sun

(originally published April 2009)

Mouths open

Eating the sun

Greedy for fire and flame

To nourish their sex

Shameless