CHANNELING CASSANDRA

by George Salamon

The Daily Tar Heel, August 30, 2023

All values are fleeing,

there's no home for

them in a world run 

by power and money.

Only one principle

remains to which we

owe loyalty, the cry

for help, screamed

or whispered.

If we give aid, arrival

of our downfall may be

delayed.

George Salamon channels Cassandra only once in a while; doing it too often would be too depressing.

SIGN OF OUR TIMES

 by Lylanne Musselman

Collage by Edutopia; Photography by Al Rendon, John Halpern, Todd-Bingham Picture Collection and Family Papers, and Everett Collection

Discussions of dead
sycamores, dancing
doves, piecing together
puzzle skies,
mom’s dementia, and
America’s downfall:
too many guns,
too many dumbasses
to mention,
a deranged
president of U.S.
but not for us:
the humble,
the stressed,
the open-
minded,
kind
poets
who dig
deeper
during
dark
times.

Lylanne Musselman is an award-winning poet, playwright, and artist, living in Indiana. Her work has appeared in Pank, Flying Island, The Tipton Poetry Journal, The New Verse News, Rose Quartz Magazine, and The Ekphrastic Review, among others, and many anthologies. Musselman is the author of five chapbooks, a co-author of the volume of poetry, and author of the full-length poetry collection It’s Not Love, Unfortunately (Chatter House Press, 2018). She’s currently working on another volume of poetry.