Red and Blue are the colors we built a country from, Red like the blood we spilled for freedom Blue like the clear skies we keep reaching for but also Red like the wounds of those we forced to plow our fields Blue like the tears we spilled watering our fields then Stars strewn across like the ones in our eyes as we looked past our mistakes to the sky-scraper silver heavens never down at the oppressed always up, always higher we are a country built on Red and Blue colors that unite and divide us all at once Democrat, Republican Liberal, Conservative focused on complicated policy and power politics that end in meaningless conflict Red and Blue colors which once linked us have become chain-links heavy, too heavy weighing us down that hill we need to climb we haven’t climbed it we can, but we won’t, not while our backs are weighed by prejudice by intolerance by hate still the colors we built from brim and burst with potential Red and Blue like an early-morning sky filled with scarlet clouds and splashes of azure beauty birthed from new beginnings now is the time to honor those we exploited heal those wounds we left open break the chains that hold us and start anew waving high a united flag of Red and Blue.
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
Weekly Creativity #192: Take a Photo of a Wild Animal in Motion
Take a photo of a wild animal in motion.
How Stories Work—Writing Workshop #27: Parables & Paradoxes
An update from the twenty-seventh Writing Workshop with Conner Bassett A summary of the workshop held on Saturday February 12, plus some of the output published below This week, Conner chose to focus on the miniature literature of Daniil Kharms and Franz Kafka in the form of parables and paradoxes. The entirety of the workshop was spent on the writing of Kharms and Kafka, beginning with Kharms, a Soviet era Russian avant-gardist and absurdist poet, writer, and dramatist. We began by reading “Man with Red Hair,” in which a red-headed man is introduced and subsequently stripped down to non-existence body part by body part until the speaker finally says “So it is probably best not to talk about him anymore.” This piece set the tone for what the rest of these parables and paradoxes would do: namely, make us laugh! We also read “A Story,” “The Old Woman,” and “7 or 8,” all by Kharms. From Kafka, we read “A Little Fable,” “Give it Up!,” and “The Departure.” The Participants: Nova, Amelia, Emma, Josh, Lina, Ellie, Zar, Quinn, Alice, Chelsea The Challenge: Write a parable or paradox à la Kharms or Kafka. To watch the rest of the readings from this workshop, like Zar’s below, click here. Zar, 11
