President Donald Trump declared Wednesday evening that his power as commander in chief is constrained only by his “own morality,” brushing aside international law and other checks on his ability to use military might to strike, invade or coerce nations around the world. –The New York Times, January 8, 2026 |
But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread out… —Exodus 1:12
asking yourself a question / that's where resistance starts // and then asking someone else, the same question —Remco Campert, "Someone Asks the Question"
The money began to disappear
and the people,
adherence to the law,
whether ours or everyone’s,
environmental protection,
childcare and other services,
a sense of safety and security,
more money,
more people.
The killing and wounding began—
always with an explanation—
adherence to personal morality alone
prevailed.
Yet questions were spoken,
whispered and shouted,
in the open and behind closed doors,
among friends and in public,
on airwaves and in cyberspace,
by children and by grandparents,
by the energized and by the exhausted,
in solitude or to another
question were repeated,
multiplied
and spread out,
until
they were on the lips of every caring woman
and child
and man,
every caring human being.
And that was the moment that led,
in the end,
to the beginning.
Katy Z. Allen is a lover of the more-than-human world, poet, retired rabbi of an outdoor congregation, former healthcare chaplain, co-founder of a Jewish climate organization, and eco-chaplain. She has been writing in one context or another all her life. Her poetry has been published or is forthcoming in print and online in such places as Amethyst Review, The New Verse News, The Bluebird Word, Cosmic Daffodil, and Art on the Trails: Number 9. Her book, A Tree of Life: A Story in Word, Image, and Text was published by Strong Voices Publishing.
