In Dire Times

In this valley of dying stars / In this hollow valley / This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms

In dire times such as these, I know readers want to reach out to their favorite online sites for information, for solace, for a sense of not being totally powerless.

Israel’s on-going genocide in Gaza continues, and its assault on Rafah is now underway. Truly these are dark times, illuminated in part by the heroism of college students around the country who are braving police attack, arrest, and injuries to fight back against Biden’s sanctioned genocide, an enterprise they understand often is abetted by the very institutions to which they belong!

Unfortunately, for these past ten days, I have been struck down by a strong case of Covid, the second time I have had this disease. This iteration of the illness is worse than what I experienced a couple years ago. But I am not hospital-bound, and, indeed, I may be on the upswing.

Still, as a result, I have not been able to be available as I would have liked with my own particular sort of commentary or contributions. Yet bed-bound as I have been, I’m still tweeting at X/Twitter, and you can read my thoughts and reactions there (@jeff_kaye). It takes a lot less energy to write a tweet than to write an essay, as you can imagine! Anyway, I hope to be back in the land of the well very soon, and back to providing you with interesting and provocative new articles.

I wanted you all to know what’s been going on, and why I have been so absent here. I close with a few stanzas from T.S. Eliot’s The Hollow Men, a poem that speaks to me lately of the societal bleak spot we find ourselves in (minus Eliot’s religiosity). The tag at the beginning of this post also comes from the same poem.

This is the dead land
    This is cactus land
    Here the stone images
    Are raised, here they receive
    The supplication of a dead man's hand
    Under the twinkle of a fading star.
   
    Is it like this
    In death's other kingdom
    Waking alone
    At the hour when we are
    Trembling with tenderness
    Lips that would kiss
    Form prayers to broken stone.

I look forward to returning in full health soon!