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Vice President Kamala Harris appeared for the first time alongside her newly announced running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, introducing him on Tuesday evening at a packed rally in Philadelphia. “Thank you for bringing back the joy,” a beaming Mr. Walz turned to tell Ms. Harris after she presented him to the crowd. —The New York Times, August 6, 2024 |
What a long time have we been waiting for joy!
Like brassy laughter, what we really need is joy.
Today, our air is alive, electric. A chorus
of voices can be heard in harmonies of joy.
No one disputes that such emotion is good for us.
What else can balance doomsday fears like joy?
Once I heard a wood thrush hidden in a porous
bush, its notes sensuous with forbidden joy.
It’s been too long since we could bask in glorious
sound. Listen as it rises like a songbird, joy-
ous with promise, ascendant with purpose, raucous
with Hope—which we now know by its other name: Joy.
Mary K O’Melveny, a happily retired attorney, is the author of four poetry collections and a chapbook. Her most recent If You Want To Go To Heaven, Follow A Songbird (Jerry Jazz Musician 2024) is an album of poems, art and music. Mary’s collection Flight Patterns was nominated for the Eric Hoffer Book Award. Her book Merging Star Hypotheses was a semi-finalist for The Washington Prize, sponsored by The Word Works. Mary has been twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She is an active member of the Hudson Valley Women’s Writing Group and her poetry appears in the Group’s two published anthologies An Apple In Her Hand and Rethinking The Ground Rules. Mary lives with her wife near Woodstock, New York.