17 Nov, 2022
Shatter alley
Can a poem transcend fury — fury combined with helplessness? Can individual property owners join NATO?
17 Nov, 2022
10 Nov, 2022
Looking for victory beyond the election
After the election comes . . . the coverage, which always, at least in the mainstream media, seems to reduce everything to winning and losing, to strategy and tactics, rather than to the deep issues shaping the future.
2 Nov, 2022
The drum and the cardinal
My friends Scott and Betsey gave me a drum a few weeks ago. I played it as I sat with them . . . and I certainly mean the word “play” as childishly as you can imagine.
27 Oct, 2022
Loving nature or profiting from it: Take your pic
It’s fascinating how “interests” interfere with survival. We prepare for — and, of course, wage — war with an overwhelming percentage of our resources (to the benefit of the profiteers), but we plead poverty when it comes to helping people or, you know, saving the planet.
21 Oct, 2022
Fifteen seconds till Armageddon
“When militarism is addressed as a psychosocial disease, the absurd irrationality of its symptoms is clearly exposed.”
12 Oct, 2022
Death by nationalism?
Death by nationalism? by Robert C. Koehler 911 words The game may be almost over. Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S.Davies put...
6 Oct, 2022
Transcending the Morality Police
I’ve been haunted by a phrase for almost a month now: “morality police.” The news has been global. A 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, was arrested as she was leaving a subway station in Tehran on September 13...
2 Oct, 2022
Nukes, war and moral sanity
Nukes, war and moral sanity by Robert C. Koehler 939 words What does surrender look like in the world of...
1 Sep, 2022
Staring into the eyes of the wolf
Close your eyes and try to envision the two wolves. Imagine yourself as a terrified child.
27 Aug, 2022
The stained-glass teddy bear
My daughter, Alison, who is 36 years old, flew into town the other day (angel that she is) and I can’t let go of the wonder and miracle of it all . . . being alive.
18 Aug, 2022
With wars to wage, who can afford peace?
Texas and Arizona have begun busing refugees at their border – at a cost of millions – up to a couple liberal Northern cities . . . let’s see how they like it!
11 Aug, 2022
‘Mommy, somebody’s having a baby’
On a shrugged-off afternoon of YouTube wandering, I came upon this: “Is There Life After Death?” Hmmm . . . well, is there?
6 Aug, 2022
Surrendering power to reverence
“I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous Peoples.”
1 Aug, 2022
My weekend with the good guys
You may find this shocking, but a little over a decade ago I spent a weekend learning how to shoot a handgun — under the auspices of the NRA. I wound up earning myself an NRA “personal protection in the home” certificate.
28 Jul, 2022
The cynics’ monkey wrench
If you depart from an “us vs. them” philosophy of life, your first confrontation is likely to be with the cynics.