“A border always conveys meaning.”
Borders mark the contours of nations, states, even cities, defining them by separating them from all others. A border can be natural—an ocean, a…
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Politics and the lies we tell about grief
When we do not take grief seriously—our own and another’s—but merely cover its wounds with a garish fairy tale of winking soldiers cheering from…
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Reverend Doctor Garbage Man
As a garbage man, I probably know more about the people on my route than their pastor does. John Marboe This delightful StoryCorps piece…
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Within the household of nature
Sustainable? For who? For me, for you, for us, for everybody? No, I’m fucking not living sustainably. My welfare is dependent on the third…
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Re-imagining rural politics
To establish rural strongholds, progressives must stop stereotyping rural, working-class people as White, reactionary hillbillies who automatically swing Right. History reveals a much more complex truth….
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Resolutions
This is the year, I told my friends at brunch on New Years Day, that I will manage my time better. And then, I…
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A ship runs on goodwill: dispatch from Elisabeth
We had hoped we might hear from our Topology poetry editor Elisabeth somehow on her cross-Atlantic sailing journey, despite the necessary limitations of communications,…
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Do not be afraid?
On November 9, the morning after the recent U.S. presidential election, my husband Rob posted a comment on his Facebook page out of the…
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Paris re-told
When you travel, how do you best get to know a city? How do you get at its heart, unearthing the stories laying dormant…
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Place-ful poetry
I recently started getting the daily poem from Poets.org, and it’s been delightful. Some of them have hit me right where I am in…
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