The children were back at school
with masks and with their desks spread apart
Would you rather be in person or be at home learning?

And it was snack time
So the plastic dividers were set up while the children
took off their masks; like gloves on their faces coming off

And children are so delicate as much as they are resilient.
They haven’t even met most of their classmates
in real life until today.

Even children during a pandemic still find ways to play
First graders sitting carefully in their own space
Trying not to sneeze or cough

"Would you rather be a princess or a serpent?"
One student asked.
"A princess!" another answered.

“You can’t be a princess! You’re a boy”
A shout was heard, a teacher intervened
“Xe can be whoever xe wants to be.”

Would you rather live in a world
Where we have not just illnesses of the body
Where we let hatred and ignorance define our choices?

Or would you rather live in this one:
Where a teacher says, “Enough. Let’s learn and grow.”
“Our classroom is a safe space.”

I’d rather make our whole world this space.


****This really happened****

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I want to live in un-interesting times.
The interesting times just don't suit me anymore.
I want to wake up every day
Drink my coffee
Go to work and help kids
Or draw and photograph
Walk through forests
Pet cats and read books

And I don't want to think about suffering
---Any suffering---
I don't want to think about animals or people dying.
Or billionaire capitalists
War and climate change
Diseases once eradicated now
Growing stronger in bodies
Homeless people freezing on streets
People with no body autonomy
Refugees being turned away
Elon Musk buying himself another big toy rocket ship.

I am sick of the interesting times.
I want to look up at the clouds and breathe deeply
Not fearing all of the chemicals in the air or the water I drink
Or the vegetables and fruits I eat
I want to go to art galleries and concerts
Take long bike rides through the woods and
photograph mushrooms.
I want to spend whole nights drinking tea and
Listening to Christina Vantzou's No 2 or
Watching a Kaurismäki film with a favorite feline on my lap or Reading a Bae Suah novel in the bathtub.

I can amuse myself.
Make my own fun.
I don't need the "help" of egomaniac politicians to make it interesting.

So, I wish they would all just leave us artists alone.

Happy New Year.

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Little Wonders in Switzerland
Do not care if you admire
Or if you forget about them
Because you are too busy
Gazing at permanent mountains
To notice the beauty
That might be gone tomorrow.

Little wonders wish you well
Moments of happiness not sorrow
As you wander on your way.
They hope that you make
the very best out of your day.
And they feel and they think
As fast as your eye can blink.

And you're gone already.


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Will dry out your blood
crack and hollow your bones
make your skin paper thin
and then fold you up
into so many directions
slip you in his pocket
meet somebody new
and begin the process all over again.

What, did you think he would turn you into a swan or something?

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We didn't know how to make houses
But we tried our best
Building textures from memories
When the wind passed through
It reminded us that we were haunted
By all the things we felt but couldn't see
And made us hold tight against each other
In an interesting geometry.

**All photos are copyrighted**

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