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In a world as full of beauty as it is of horror, gods exist so that people have somewhere to direct their gratitude for being alive.

Dave Bonta @davebonta.bsky.social · 16h

By next year at this time, I'll probably be babbling about how I have to learn to align my creative energies with the divine feminine. Pray for me.

Alive

davebonta.com

Dave Bonta @davebonta.bsky.social · 17h

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Early-morning rain past, a chill breeze stirs in the tulip poplar beside the springhouse, four-lobed leaves waving like jazz hands on a thousand-armed bodhisattva, some green, some yellow.

Early-morning rain past, a chill breeze stirs in the tulip poplar beside the springhouse, four-lobed leaves waving like jazz hands on a thousand-armed bodhisattva, some green, some yellow.

Dave Bonta @davebonta.bsky.social · 1d

There is that. I am reading Marc McKee's great book Consolationeer this morning and feeling, yes, a little consoled, precisely because it is so eyes-open to the apocalyptic realities crowding into the frame.

Dave Bonta @davebonta.bsky.social · 1d

Hey Jim. Yeah, Fay's translations don't always do it for me, but I loved that one

Dave Bonta @davebonta.bsky.social · 1d

You bet!

Consolationeer by Marc McKee — Moonlighting

Dave Bonta @davebonta.bsky.social · 1d

I looked to see how the 2017 book of #poetry I'm reading—CONSOLATIONEER by Marc McKee—was critically received & found this reviewer who read it on his daily commute in Chicago & realized that it illuminated his entire bus-riding experience
www.thelitpub.com/reviews-inte...

Reading  Consolationeer  in this setting, however, was a serendipitous exception. If you live in a major US city with an unreliable and unpleasant public transit system, I can’t recommend th...

www.thelitpub.com

Dave Bonta @davebonta.bsky.social · 1d

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Overcast with an orange sunrise glow. Jays, the cardinal, a towhee. A winter wren burbles quietly beside the springhouse.

Overcast with an orange sunrise glow. Jays, the cardinal, a towhee. A winter wren burbles quietly beside the springhouse.

Poetry Blog Digest 2025, Week 40

Dave Bonta @davebonta.bsky.social · 2d

(I don't know why @thepoetslizard.bsky.social failed to link in that last tweet?!)

Dave Bonta @davebonta.bsky.social · 2d

Despite everything, poetry. With @webbish6.bsky.social @velveteenrabbi.bsky.social @ren-powell.bsky.social @garybarwin.bsky.social @thepoetslizard.bsky.social @jamesmcconachie1.bsky.social @oyoguhito.bsky.social @robmclennan.bsky.social @emmalee1.bsky.social 3/3
www.vianegativa.us/2025/10/poet...

A personal selection of posts from the Poetry Blogging Network and beyond.

www.vianegativa.us

4 2 9

Dave Bonta @davebonta.bsky.social · 2d

A gun utters a death wish; a spare poem spares us nothing— @victoriamoul.bsky.social @suefinch.bsky.social @alinaetc.bsky.social @clareshawpoet.bsky.social @myheadtheforest.bsky.social @dharmabam.bsky.social @vanopticon.bsky.social @richfergusonpoet.bsky.social 2/3
www.vianegativa.us/2025/10/poet...

Poetry Blog Digest 2025, Week 40

A personal selection of posts from the Poetry Blogging Network and beyond.

www.vianegativa.us

1 2 4

Dave Bonta @davebonta.bsky.social · 2d

Interesting times as always this week in the poetry blogs with @robin-gow-poet.bsky.social @wendypratt.bsky.social @jwikeley.bsky.social @kimmoorepoet.bsky.social @richardjnewman.bsky.social @edmundprestwich.bsky.social @salenagodden.bsky.social 1/3
www.vianegativa.us/2025/10/poet...

Poetry Blog Digest 2025, Week 40

A personal selection of posts from the Poetry Blogging Network and beyond.

www.vianegativa.us

2 3 8

Dave Bonta @davebonta.bsky.social · 2d

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Crystal-clear. A Cooper's hawk calls from the top of the tallest tree in the yard as sunrise reddens the western ridge.

Crystal-clear. A Cooper's hawk calls from the top of the tallest tree in the yard as sunrise reddens the western ridge.

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Dave Bonta @davebonta.bsky.social · 3d

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Clear and very quiet at dawn. Some scattered towhee tweets. The thump of a walnut dropped by a half-awake squirrel.

Clear and very quiet at dawn. Some scattered towhee tweets. The thump of a walnut dropped by a half-awake squirrel.

Dave Bonta @davebonta.bsky.social · 4d

This time, it seems, "states rights" will *not* be a rallying cry for the arrogant fools starting a civil war

Reposted by Dave Bonta

Dr. Hilary Agro, PhD 🍄 @hilaryagro.com · 4d

Can you do this? A 24-hour challenge for leftists and liberals:

4 10 54

Dave Bonta @davebonta.bsky.social · 4d

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Another classic October morning, crisp and clear. From the sun-struck treetops, a brown-headed cowbird's liquid note. In the still air, a falling leaf spirals and somersaults, taking its time.

Another classic October morning, crisp and clear. From the sun-struck treetops, a brown-headed cowbird's liquid note. In the still air, a falling leaf spirals and somersaults, taking its time.

Dave Bonta @davebonta.bsky.social · 5d

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Cold and still at dawn, with pink clouds emerging from the engines of a jet. A white-throated sparrow pipes up. Something on four feet runs off through the deepening leaf duff.

Cold and still at dawn, with pink clouds emerging from the engines of a jet. A white-throated sparrow pipes up. Something on four feet runs off through the deepening leaf duff.

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Dave Bonta @davebonta.bsky.social · 6d

thanks

Dave Bonta @davebonta.bsky.social · 6d

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Cold and still, with a wash of cirrus clearing off after sunrise. Sound is out of the east, so instead of the usual roar of interstate traffic, I hear the shrill beeping of quarry trucks reversing to be filled and the grumbling of stones.

Cold and still, with a wash of cirrus clearing off after sunrise. Sound is out of the east, so instead of the usual roar of interstate traffic, I hear the shrill beeping of quarry trucks reversing to be filled and the grumbling of stones.

Hegseth’s Quantico Farce: Terrifying, Or Oddly Reassuring?

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Dave Bonta @davebonta.bsky.social · 7d

I wonder whether this stony response from the generals has Trump and his myrmidons worried about the possibility of a military coup if they take things too far

The Nation Magazine @thenation.com · 7d

Military officials showed up for Pete Hegseth’s mandatory gathering in Quantico, but, writes @joanwalsh.bsky.social, they didn’t seem to appreciate it. www.thenation.com/article/poli...

Trump and the Defense Secretary summoned top military leaders to the side of authoritarianism and abuse, but the officers did not thrill to the message.

www.thenation.com

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Dave Bonta @davebonta.bsky.social · 7d

in rural areas we're already seeing this

lil homie gay ass @shituationist.bsky.social · 9d

The reason that the US appears less poor than some third world nations is because state power here won't let you just build a shack. They'll tear it down and make you homeless so that no one has to see shacks. That's going to change as state power erodes.

Dave Bonta @davebonta.bsky.social · 7d

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A cold front has delivered October's bright blue weather right on schedule. Yellow leaves flutter down in the breeze. A Carolina wren draws again and again from a seemingly inexhaustible well of song.

A cold front has delivered October's bright blue weather right on schedule. Yellow leaves flutter down in the breeze. A Carolina wren draws again and again from a seemingly inexhaustible well of song.