The voices of raptors

From somewhere among the branches
fall the voices of raptors.
A Cooper's hawk swoops into position
outside the clinic window, interrupting
the business of the day, scaring
a brown-eyed boy balanced
on the scale. The nutritionist gasps,
stops talking of rice cereal and mashed fruit,
startled by the rodent prey dangling from your beak.

The boy curls his toes, jaw dropped,
metal clanks metal beneath his feet.
From somewhere among the higher branches
fall the voices of young hunters
raspy like kittens mewling,
hungry for meat and bone,
sharp talons clamped tight,
awaiting your return.

A bit of Truth and Reconciliation

The Guardian: Spain finally attempts to lay ghosts of the Franco era

Spain's Socialist government yesterday proposed measures to help families of the victims of General Franco's dictatorship dig up mass graves, but refused to annul tens of thousands of summary death sentences handed down by his regime.

A long-awaited proposed law, to compensate victims of the Spanish civil war and the 36-year dictatorship that followed it, also bans the far right from holding rallies at Franco's grave in the Valley of the Fallen outside Madrid ...

My city, on fire again

As Israeli bombs rain down on Beirut, the people of the city are once again living with the horror of war. In an intimate diary, 30-year-old Lebanese artist Zena el-Khalil describes helping foreigners escape, the nightly rocket attacks - and how she couldn't leave her sick friend behind

More than a million march against electoral fraud in Mexico

Candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said yesterday "a fraudulent election cannot be erased even with all the waters of the oceans."

Imagine how different the world might be today if a million Americans had marched in 2000 to protest what happened in Florida and elsewhere ...

Refugee All Stars benefit Thursday!

Thursday, July 13, 2006, 8:00 PM
A benefit concert for NW Immigrant Rights Project

featuring...
The Refugee All Stars of Sierra Leone

Opening...
DJ: Darek Mazzone, Host of Wo'pop on KEXP 90.3
Tickets: available at all TicketsWest outlets for $15, day of $17

Neumos - 925 E. Pike St. - Seattle, WA 98122

Info: (206)957-8609 or Janet@nwirp.org

Emma Goldman again makes the headlines

My pals and former housemates at the Emma Goldman Finishing School somehow ended up on the front cover of the Seattle Weekly. The house is really much more pleasant and friendly than what comes across in the article, as anyone who has been there for a dinner or a party can attest. (I'll admit, however, that I don't miss the three-hour meetings.) Check out these lovelies and their big dreams.

The Seattle Times: From farmhand to farm owner

... Other farm operators, Lopez says, are on their radios all day, issuing orders. "But look," he says, seizing Reinhardt's hand across the picnic table and turning it over to show his friend's dirt-smudged fingers. "This is a hand that works."