Something Shifts

By SHELIA BLAND

Anonymous, wherever she is.
Titles and roles fit only haphazardly.
Sliding out of place,
Occasionally slipping off altogether.

Sites within contain shifting landscapes.
Fear, loneliness, occasional joy.

Spaces behind the face often contain bafflement. Wonder.
A maze of amazement.
Spaces behind the navel, host anxiety, turbulence,
Sometimes electrical jolts.
Spaces behind the left breast ache. Long.
Sometimes pound.

She has been searching – for she knows not what.
Change. Something different. She needs to be released.
Perhaps even transformed.

No space seems to fit – No place feels like home.

She touches people lightly
While they slam into her

Movement.
She needs constantly to move.
Years of moving –once exhilarating,
leaves her longing for a resting place.

She rides buses.
They are flexible.
Available without reservation.

The countryside flashes by in non-stop Kodak moments.
Nights are nice because they bring silence.

She sits in the night silence with a silent mind.
Something opens up inside her in these silences.

Vision transforms.

Embedded in the Kodak moments, other images appear.
Images that are not often perceived.

These images follow the bus now,
Though the bus continues to move
and the Kodak-moment images
are continually left behind.

These images following her
taking a keen interest in her.… Read the rest “Something Shifts”

Move It On Out!

from the series Raise Your Voice…

12/9/23: wind, sleet, and Smith Foundry…

Neighborhood activists again demonstrated their determination to SHUT IT DOWN. This time, placed forward on the speakers’ list, I took the opportunity to tweak the main slogan with the words: MOVE IT ON OUT. After all, foundries are a key link in the industrial chain, without which our entire economy would collapse. Indeed, Smith Foundry is home to hundreds of patterns from which molds are made… molds made of sand to accommodate molten iron. Actually, these patterns are owned by numerous industrial concerns which, in turn, machine the casting to form parts of machines which automate the production of consumer goods. It follows: a state-of-the-art facility (i.e., a less polluting facility) must be built in the countryside (and surrounded with pine trees!).

Historical note: in preparation for Hitler’s invasion, the Soviet Union transported much of its industrial capacity from the west to the faraway Urals.

Who will pay for the move?

Spread the word: a group of Canadian capitalists has acquired Smith Foundry, and evidently, their intention is to attain a degree of monopoly by owning different types of foundries, here and in Canada. Certainly, they have lots of money.… Read the rest “Move It On Out!”