Since the astonishing Coleman Barks died Feb. 23rd, I've been trying to write about this premier translator of Rumi, the ever-relevant 13th century Sufi mystic poet Coleman brought us. I especially want to tell the story of how I met Coleman when he was helping, in extraordinary fashion, my friend John Willison. But I stopped myself from writing this celebration of poets and poetry because of all the stuff happening in our world lately. ICE showed up in my town to disappear some of our...

I got in my car anyway to go to the Mardi Gras parade in downtown Lawrence after I watched a video online of three ICE agents pushing a Lawrence man to the ground, handcuffing him, and taking him away. The air was warm for February, the sun was hidden behind a bank of clouds. The wind and the mood was up, but between and betwixt we were asking each other, "Did you hear?" Then holding hands or nodding or saying we were freaked out or expected it or nothing at all before dancing down the...

The Walk for Peace with Aloka, borrowed from the Facebook page. Everyday we call and often text our son in Minnesota. While he lives in a St. Paul diverse neighborhood not under attack from ICE, he works at a food co-op in the Somali community in Minneapolis where fear runs justifiably high. That business, along with hundreds of others, is closed today in support of the general strike to protest ICE. Over the last few weeks, our son has been trained and issued a whistle and instructions on...