among feelings

underlying all the wishes for a happy new year

weaving in and out of our multifaceted thoughts

clinging to us like smoke swirling around

is the feeling that we are held captive

by a man

who will hold the nuclear codes

among other indications of massive power

the feeling that there will be inevitable and unspeakable suffering

at his hands, by his decisions 

the feeling that no matter how unfair and how disproportionate the unfairness

we will have to overcome. 

we have to think of the kinds of resistance, they ways of fighting back

that will not get us locked up or maybe killed, depending on who we are. 

this is a man so desperate to control all narratives that he threatens 

the journalists, the story tellers, the truth tellers, the trumpets. 

Our lives, our freedoms, our voices, are choices are all 

on the chopping block, so it appears

So, you take a walk in these few days left before he takes office

you notice the flowers, the freshness of the breeze that lifts leaves higher than they were

you notice the quality of the winter light, knowing light is returning now, although

the days are still shorter than they were

you notice light is returning. you notice memories of times that oppression and violence

were intertwined with everyday life. you remember Gaza, right now, and your heart goes out

reaching far over in the distance landing with the people of Gaza, right now. 

You feel that the ancestors alive inside you are part of that light that is returning and 

you must make it through this. you must endure. 

And as you endure, moment by moment

the strength and clarity that helps you survive, and helps all of us survive, is 

deepening into your skin, your organs, your bones. 

and songs of resilience arise from these same bones. 

and you feel this upswelling will somehow, some way, be enough

for the unknown, the unknowable.