Poem

An Overcast Morning, I Sit Down To Write

Published in Winter 2018 | Comments 0

Inhalation and exhalation,
this just happens
and I’m in the middle of it.
That which breathes me.
Yah weh
the word spoken
is breath.
And a name
for the piercing origin
of all things:
penstemon, ground water,
nectar feeding sunbird,
cry of a gibbon,
the gibbous moon,
quasar, nebula,
our galaxy
and all,
all of the billions
of other galaxies
spinning their red-gold beauty
in the dark
beyond our beyond.
All of this,
happening now
and my mind
tries to carry the light
of all those stars
and all of that
which is in between.

About Melanie Green

Melanie Green has two collections of poetry: Continuing Bridge and Determining Sky, available through Mountains and Rivers Press of Eugene, Oregon. She was a participant in Portland’s “word & hand” collaboration, where six poets were paired with six visual artists to create new works of art as dialogue. Her poems were also incorporated in the modern dance performance, “Under Fallen Stars,” choreographed by Sue Brantley.

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Editorial

The Four Freedoms and Artificial Intelligence

By Rhonda Fabian

The Four Freedoms and Artificial Intelligence may seem disconnected, yet each is a litmus test for our era. How we develop and implement each of them is a measure of our commitment to ethical and responsible decision-making. Both the Four Freedoms and AI can also be seen as sources of tension and debate, as they raise complex and often competing values and interests that must be balanced. Each reflect our collective will and priorities and the capacity for enormous impact on lives.

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Commons

The Treasure of Our Living, Relational Commons

By David Bollier

As I have learned about the social life of trees and the intimate bonds that indigenous peoples have with various lifeforms and rivers – and as I pore through recent ecophilosophy that explains aliveness to the western mind -- I’ve concluded: We really ought to be talking more about animism and commoning.

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