Pain
It arrives for your birthday, without any gift.
It has the face of a candle-flame,
little flickering incisors
chewing at the hem of a sleeve.
A guest, you have no choice but to serve it
boiled eggs for breakfast, pots of tea.
Afternoons spent sketching in the garden,
weeding the erratic zinnias.
Night is what you come to fear.
Pacing, muttering, unexplained thumps
as of books crashing to the floor
in the empty room beneath the stairs.
When the walls dissolve between dream
and waking there is nothing
to do but open the door and stride
barefoot into a utopia of freshly fallen snow.
Become a Sustaining Donor This September
Between the reemergence of right-wing red-baiting and Donald Trump’s use of the chilling National Security Presidential Memorandum–7 to criminalize left political organizing, we’re seeing McCarthyism reborn before our eyes.
This assault on democracy cannot be ignored or wished away. Resisting it requires bravery in the face of threats and repression, a steadfast commitment to the truth, and the unwavering belief that we can—and will—overcome this darkness.
We must have an independent media that sets the record straight, unearths corruption and abuses of power, and advances a politics of justice and dignity for all if we’re to win this fight.
That’s why I’m writing to you today. This September, The Nation needs to add 100 monthly donors to sustain our progressive journalism. Your contribution makes the next investigative report, the next truth-speaking column, and the next pathbreaking essay all possible.
I hope you’ll support our work with a recurring donation today. If you donate $10 or more a month, we’ll send you a brand new “Hands Off the Free Press!” sticker to recognise your commitment to our cause. Please, donate today.
Onward,
Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editor and Publisher, The Nation
