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A Message from the Club for Circumventing Justice
(Satire warning: The Club for Circumventing Justice does not actually exist, nor, as far as I know, has it existed in the past. I, of course, am not a member and never have been, though I do exist.–JK) The Club for Circumventing Justice would like to thank the U.S. Supreme Court and a federal judge in Wisconsin for upholding a legal […]
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Friends of the Black River Forest Oppose Another Golf Course on the Lake Michigan Shore
A newly formed group of Wilson, WI residents called Friends of the Black River Forest has issued a press release on its website. The group is opposed to the proposed Kohler golf course on forested property the company owns along the Lake Michigan shore in Sheboygan County. I previously wrote about the golf course proposal (it would be […]
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Don’t Let Wisconsin Become the Tar Sands Oil Pipeline
(Thanks to writer Eric Hansen for relaying much of this information.) Today at the Superior Public Library in Superior, WI, the Wisconsin DNR is holding a public hearing on a permit (a simple air pollution permit) which would allow Enbridge, a Canadian pipeline corporation, to begin to expand the “Line 61” pipeline that slices right through the heart […]
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New Poems by Rebecca Kylie Law
[Today I’m pleased to present three new poems by Australian poet Rebecca Kylie Law. The poems were submitted to The Afternoon Journal and are published for the first time. Please note the copyright: All rights reserved.] For St Francis of Paola, Hermit In the afternoon becoming night, noticing small ribbed shells the […]
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Pres. Obama and Sec. of State Kerry Ward Off War Hawks– Sort Of
Speaking during a press conference in the Philippines, where he had just signed a new security agreement granting U.S. armed forces more of a presence in that nation, President Obama got a little irritated at those at home pressing that he get militarily tough with a number of nations behaving badly: “Why is it that […]
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For Earth Day: “Beauty and Truth”
Beauty and Truth Windows let in spring’s bare light, the early drab before leaf and petal glamorize the season. I must refrain from reason now– this art a beautiful indirection that gets somewhere somehow, that lets virtue bloom, crocuses gaudily there. To be moved by presence made excessive, a thing come true. John Kaufman
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Ted Kooser’s “American Life in Poetry”: Column 474
American Life in Poetry: Column 474 BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE Let’s celebrate the first warm days of spring with a poem for mushroom hunters, this one by Amy Fleury, who lives in Louisiana. First Morel Up from wood rot, wrinkling up from duff and homely damps, spore-born and cauled like a meager […]
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GOP Secedes from Reality: A Letter the Journal Sentinel Didn’t Publish
(What follows is a letter to the editor I submitted to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. It wasn’t published, so I offer it here.)–JK Dear Editor, In his recent Journal Sentinel column (“Wisconsin GOP isn’t seceding from reality”), Christian Schneider accuses the economic protest movement known as Occupy of “darker strains of leftism” including anti-Semitism, as well as […]
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NATO’s “De-escalation” Deployment: Escalating Chance of War ?
The announcement that NATO will now increase its military presence in the vicinity of Ukraine is being defended by NATO’s secretary general as a move to enhance “defense, deterrence, and de-escalation.” This build-up of NATO troops, military aircraft and ships along Europe’s eastern border seems more likely to provoke the Russians and increase tension in the region than to […]
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Can’t See the Forest for the Tees in Sheboygan County
Protect and preserve 247 acres of pristine forest close to Kohler Andrae State Park on the shore of Lake Michigan or build yet another golf course (number 5) in Sheboygan County? It is now clear that the Kohler Company, which owns the forest land in question, prefers the latter choice. And what about the rest of us? Speaking as […]
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Cartoon: War is Easy to Start, Hard to Stop
(Best not to enter in the first place.)
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Mending the Wall: American Media and Poetry
April is National Poetry Month, and for the next few weeks the art of poetry will be celebrated across the nation in ways that may help Americans to better appreciate it. But the one place Americans are not likely to come across a complete poem this April or any other month is in an American […]
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“On Humpty Dumpty”
On Humpty Dumpty Tyrants of egg-headed ambiguity raise walls of anti-prose, well-trained indecipherable code down which readers will fall and fail like an egg shattered after a spectacular crash. A spectacle for sure, and yet no way to put them whole with horses or men. The impulse is to make the barrier too dense— an art of self-offense. […]
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Ted Kooser’s “American Life in Poetry”: Column 471
American Life in Poetry: Column 471 BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE (2004-2006) Despite having once been bitten by a rabid bat, and survived, much to the disappointment of my critics, I find bats fascinating, and Peggy Shumaker of Alaska has written a fine poem about them. I am especially fond of her perfect […]
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Corporations are People, Except at Tax Time
If we need anymore proof that a corporation is really not a person, we can turn to an item in the news which so far the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has not covered beyond printing a brief Bloomberg report in its Business section. The news is that, according to a U.S. Senate investigation, Caterpillar, Inc. (which four years ago purchased local mining equipment manufacturer […]
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Wisconsin’s Rural Schools Must Now Go Begging
Today voters in 26 Wisconsin rural school districts are being asked to do what the State of Wisconsin won’t do: fully fund public education. Gov. Walker cut aid to school districts and reduced the raising of taxes while telling the school districts to find more money by giving less salary and benefits to teachers. Well, despite […]
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