Dear Reader,

Wanting some fun, I asked my contributors to write one to two sentences about what’s on their minds. There was no content agenda and I enjoyed the spontaneity of putting together what came in each day. I thank the 25 contributors who sent me their words. “I’ve no idea where we are, but wherever we are, we’re getting there fast.� —L.A. Seti plays with her name: “SET you up. SET for life.� “Stop; I just want the shenanigans to stop. Can we rise above our little selves?� —Ann Buxie “How did I ever delude myself into believing that I could live with uncertainty?� —Tim Rummel “I just finished reading an old Susan Sontag essay about Leni Riefenstahl’s cult of beauty in art and happened to think that it is little different from the art that created statues to Robert E. Lee and Father Serra, etc.—art celebrating the horrors of genocide. I am thinking about ramifying parallels in literature as well as in art and what they teach us about history, reason, and humanity.� —Elaine Alarcon-Totten I was thinking as my town of Ashland, OR fills with smoke that we will never return to the pre-pandemic world. —Sheila Burns How silly to think the sun only falls on others when you are feeling warm. tick tock tick. the clock I carry is hurting my shoulders. —Lindsay Evans “He won’t let anyone tell him what to do; I like that.� —Man overheard at Topanga’s Bistro restaurant. “It was a dare and a spit and a hope that we were moving towards a new place, like chasing a storm or running through a batch of bad luck.� —Millicent Borges Accardi, from her poem, “To Miss the Shadows.� Who am I when I’m not doing for you? Do I know value myself in the stillness of the dark room? —Jennifer Kelly What looks like a dead-end is only a different starting point. It may never be too late, but it can be too early. Time should be a tool, not a barrier. —D Ferrara I can’t fathom this world’s terrifying chaos, so look for goodness in my one little life. —Peg Quinn Take a breath. —Jumana Bississo How many sleeps till camp starting? Who am I meant to be? —Maddie Rassey Can I stay home today all day? Going to the park is exhausting. —William Rassey How much more summer do I have left before school? —Izzy Rassey I love summer, summer nights and summer dresses. —Sarah Rassey Reminder on iPhone: Do Laundry. —Nima Moayedi The greatest truth is what you conceive it to be. —Charles Accardi Am I living now in a dream, feeling safe going to restaurants and stores? And/or did I have a very bad dream that I was locked in my house for 15 months with very, very limited human contact, my old celebratory self sinking into black? —Jane Marla Robbins I have a sense of calmness through my sister’s trip to Tehran where most of my childhood memories are, although that place is the most chaotic for most people. —Mariam Alaie If you travel to China, you quarantine for 21 days in a single room you pay for. If you leave the room, the count goes back to O. —Yves Kobry August 5 Carol Davis; August 12 Alexis Rhone Fancher; September 9 Andrea Carter Brown, November 4 Bruce Willard, under the Ventura County Poetry Project. —Hosted by Phil Taggart on Zoom which has been ongoing during the pandemic. Once a week we volunteer at the Food Bank, a free, no judgment space. Joyfully we give the clients food to make them feel good about accepting the donations; We also give the homeless non-perishable food, some supplied by Starbucks. —Perla and her partner, Leslie. “reach the turning-around-point and I do Local cross-country teams/have passed me once twice sometimes three times by now// Jim Crow is making a comeback in legislatures all across the country even the Supreme Court…� —Phil Taggart, from his poem, “Walking in Harmon Canyon.� The Flat Earth Society has members around the globe. “Nuance is the word I’ve heard in the last few days.� —Uncle Red. “This river is not tranquil; its mud-filled brown waters swirling with thinly concealed energetic currents. I know it’s only the flood tide meeting the water from the hills but this unique water has a sense that is strangely disturbing.� —Ken Jones, from his poem, “The Thames in London.� For a long time we will suffer with PTSD from Covid-19 and the attack on western democracy. —A.D. “Have we outsourced humanity?� —T.M.