We don't have a lot of words right now. No hot takes. No three step plans. We feel heavy, confused, and scared. And while we might have the impulse to shut down, we want to be intentional to bear witness to the untidy snarl of this moment. It didn't feel right to carry along with our regularly programming when so many of us are grieving & afraid right now. So here's a tiny conversation to hold space for a greater pause — for feeling our feelings, for taking deep breaths, for listening to more stories & reflecting on the stories we hold, for making plans to support the ones around us, for whatever we need to feel the ground beneath us.

And in the meantime, here are some poems & essays that are speaking to us right now.

What do you turn toward? by Lisa Olivera

MAGA Hat In the Chemo Room, by Andrea Gibson

For My Sister, by Kate Baer

I don't want another black president: a love letter, by Kaplan Villacorte Trudo

How Dark the Beginning, by Maggie Smith