painting by Charles Erickson

 

Dear Friends of the Open Road

 

Click on titles in Bold to go to any issue of our peace, love, happiness & understanding journal. The list of issues is followed by an Index, which is a guide to each issue’s content.

 

On this web page there is also a search box into which you can type a word or phrase, and find what you are looking for in that way.

 

Issue #1  Spring Equinox (picture of pansy) 3/19/20

Issue #2  Humor (images: cartoons by Gary Larson) 3/26/20

Issue #3  Some Poems  (image: Japanese picture of cherry tree) 4/2/20

Issue #4  Walt Whitman (image: painting of WW by Rick Bartow) 4/9/20

Issue #5   Rumi (edited by Prabu Muruganantham) (picture of flower) 4/16/20

Issue #6 Shakespeare (picture of young Johnny with Shakespeare sweatshirt) 4/23/20

Issue #7 Happiness (picture by Jan Steen: The Merry Family) 4/30/20

Issue #8  Ingersoll: Crimes Against Criminals (picture of Robert G. Ingersoll) 5/7/20

Issue #9  Compassion (picture of Einstein) 5/14/20

Issue #10 Love (picture of Hafiz) 5/21/20

Issue #11 Peaceable Kingdom (painting by Charles Erickson) 5/28/20

Issue #12  Meditation, Dialogue & Study (Goya’s Sleep of Reason) 6/4/20

Issue #13 Black Lives Matter (image of George Floyd) 6/11/20

Issue #14 Mostly Poems (Blake image: When the morning stars sang together) 6/18/20

With Issue #15, peace, love & happiness became peace, love, happiness & understanding.

Issue #15 Ripple Effect (image of ripples in water) 6/25/20

Issue #16 Blake: Innocence and Experience (Laughing Song image) 7/2/20

Issue #17 Remembering Nick (picture of Nick Consoletti) 7/9/20

Issue #18 Kim Stafford Featured Poet (picture of Kim, Hugo & Johnny) 7/16/20

Issue #19 Metaphors: Battle or Picnic?  (picture of Emerson) 7/23/20

Issue #20 Humor Issue (Gary Larson cartoon: Nerds in hell) 7/30/20

Issue #21  Culture that Nurtures (picture of Wisłowa Szymborska) 8/6/20

Issue #22 My mind started to blossom…  (picture of Aaron Gilbert as Toby Belch) 8/13/20

Issue #23 Poems, Stories, Letters, Thoughts (picture of four actors from Midsummer Night’s Dream) 8/20/20

Issue #24 Meditation and Mindfulness (image of Avalokiteśvara from Ajanta) 8/27/20

Issue #25 Interview with Ashley Lucas (photos of Ashley and Jeff Sanders &  Joe Opyd with his mom, Sharon Lemm, and Aunt Andrea) 9/3/20

Issue #26 Paradise of Books (image of Don Quixote in his library by Gustave Doré) 9/10/20

Issue #27 Smoky (image of the Platters) 9/17/20

Issue #28 How Hippies May Still Save the World (image of Flora by Botticelli) 9/24/20

Issue #29 Gary Snyder and FOUR CHANGES (image of Gary Snyder) 10/1/20

Issue #30 The Golden World (image of glass of water) 10/8/20

Issue #31 Pollyanna (image of Mary Pickford) 10/15/20

Issue #32 Loving the Earth (image of sunrise from atop Big Mountain) 10/22/20

Issue #33 Gettysburg Addresses (image of Lord Buckley) 10/29/20

Issue #34 Gandhi  (image of Mahatman Gandhi) 11/5/20

Issue #35 Writings of Lonnie Glinski (picture of Lonnie as Ophelia) 11/12/20

Issue #36 Freedom’s Firm Foundation (picture of Nitya, Nancy & Peter O.) 11/19/20

Issue #37 Writing Poems (picture of Pablo Neruda & Matilde Urrutia) 11/26/20

Starting on November 26, 2020, peace, love, happiness & understanding went from being weekly to bi-weekly.

Issue #38 Pictures (not words) 12/10/20

Issue #39 Poetry Corner (image of Mr. Natural watering the Tree of Possibilities) 12/24/20

Issue #40 Allegory of the Cave (image of Plato’s cave) 1/7/21

Issue #41 Loving Your Enemies (photo of Martin Luther King) 1/21/21

Issue #42 The Hill We Climb (screen shot of Amanda Gorman) 2/4/21

Issue #43 Valentine’s Day Special: Love Poems (image of Paolo and Francesca) 2/18/21

Issue #44 Harold and the Purple Crayon  (image from Harold and the Purple Crayon) 3/4/21

Issue #45 Spring Equinox (peace, love, happiness & understanding is one year old!)   (picture of Daphne odora) 3/18/21

Issue #46 Story Poems (picture of Aged Aged Man by John Tenniel) 4/1/21

Issue #47 Singer Come from Afar (picture of the cover of Kim Stafford’s book) 4/15/21

Issue #48 Bibliomania (picture of cover of Autobiography of a Yogi) 4/29/21

No issues of peace, love, happiness & understanding in May (Mexico vacation)

Issue #49 Wisława Szymborska Nobel Lecture (picture of Wisława Szymborska) 6/10/21

Issue #50  Johnny’s Imaginary TED Talk About Love (picture of sidewalk message: EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY) 6/24/21

Issue #51 Dreams of Better Worlds (pictures: 3 by Crumb of futures, big orange splot, Wague mural) 7/8/21

Issue #52 The Art of Happiness (picture of Slava Polunin) 7/22/21

Issue #53 The Three Questions (picture of Leo Tolstoy) 8/5/21

Issue #54 War: What is It Good For?  (picture: First and Last Day of Spring by Jonathan Winters) 8/19/21

Issue #55 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (picture of United Nations flag) 9/2/21

Issue #56 Another Humor Issue (picture of Mother Hubbard & her dog) 9/16/21

Issue #57 HEART! (picture of loteria card El Corazon) 9/30/21

Issue #58 Johnny’s Brief Guide to Ancient Greece (pictures of “The Death of Socrates” by David, and a bust of Aeschylus) 10/14/21

Issue #59 Poems from the Last Five Days by Kim Stafford (photos taken at the beach by Kim) 10/28/21

Issue #60 Recipe for Living a Life Rich in Meaning (pictures of four bodhisattvas: Brenda Erickson, Dick Willis, Jude Russell & Jack Baird) 11/11/21

Issue #61 Goldfinches! (picture of Goldfinch) 11/25/21

Issue #62 A Christmas Carol (picture of Scrooge beholding the Spirit of Christmas Present) 12/9/21

Issue #63 Dream of a Ridiculous Man (picture of Goya’s sleeper dreaming Peaceable Kingdom) 12/23/21

Issue #64 Brother West (photo of Cornel West) 1/6/22

Issue #65 Big Sky Country  (picture of Glacier National Park) 1/20/22

No issues of peace, love, happiness & understanding for most of February (Mexico vacation)

Issue #66 Big Sky Country Part Two (picture of bee on lilac blossom) 2/24/22

Issue #67 What Are Some of Your Favorite Books? (picture of the cover of Borgel) 3/10/22

Issue #68 War & Peace & Spring! (photos of plum tree and Ukrainian refugees) 3/24/22

Issue #69 Carl Sandburg (picture of Potato Face Blind Man) 4/7/22

Issue #70 A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Prison (picture of Bottom & Titania) 4/21/22

Issue #71 Some Poems (picture of sidewalk covered with cherry blossoms) 5/5/22

Issue #72 Poems By Women first page has Emily Dickinson; pictures of the other poets accompany their poems) 5/19/22

Starting in June of 2022, peace, love, happiness & understanding went from bi-weekly to monthly, coming out on the first Thursday of the month.

Issue #73 Walt on my mind…and in my heart (painting of Walt Whitman by Rick Bartow) 6/2/22

Issue #74 Interview With Bryan Joyner (picture of Bryan Joyner) 7/7/22

Issue #75 Adventure Tales! (picture of Edith Mirante in Burma 8/4/22

Issue #76 William Blake (Blake’s painting “River of Life”) 9/1/22

Issue #77 Kate Brown on Clemency (picture of Governor Kate Brown) 10/6/22

Issue #78 R. H. Blyth (picture of R. H. Blyth)  12/1/22

Issue #79 Tender Buttons edited by Alex Tretbar (picture of Gertrude Stein)  1/5/23

Issue #80 Something That Changed the Way You See the World  (poster of “Song of Myself” by Rick Bartow)  2/2/23

Issue #81 Favorite Poems (picture of a stone wall with a gate)  3/2/23

Issue #82 Favorite Films (picture of “The Rink”)  4/6/23

Issue #83  Books That Changed the Way You See the World (picture of For Your Own Good)  5/4/23 

Issue #84  Peace (picture of young man putting a flower in the barrel of a gun)  6/1/23

Issue #85  Visions of Utopia & Paradise (picture of The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine)  8/3/23

Issue #86  peace, love, happiness & understanding (picture of Rocky Hutchinson with eight puppies)  9/7/23

Issue #87  Black Elk’s Vision (picture of Black Elk)  10/5/23

Issue #88  The War Prayer (picture of Peanuts cartoon)  11/2/23

Issue #89  A Letter from Rocky and Lots of Poems (picture of Lake Grinnell in Glacier National Park)  12/7/23

Issue #90  Celebration! (picture of Alan & Christine, with Santa and dogs & cat)  1/4/24

Issue #91 What has enlarged your world? (picture of Nancy in Guanajuato)  2/1/24 

Issue #92  Abundance! (picture of Mexican ceramic Tree of World Literature)  3/7/24

Issue #93  Creativity! (picture of Martha Graham)  4/4/24

Issue #94  Mostly Poems (picture of cow weathervane, with bird perched on it)   5/2/24

Issue #95  Blogs and Other Stuff (picture of “The Young Hare” by Dürer)  6/6/24

Issue #96  What Stories Do You Tell Yourself to Cheer Yourself Up?   7/4/24  

Issue #97  Poems, Letters & Other Writings  (picture by Saul Steinberg) 8/1/24

 

 

 

Open Road peace, love, happiness & understanding Newsletter Index

 

Issue #1 Spring Equinox (picture of pansy) 3/19/20

Alan Watts quote:  “there is nothing wrong with you at all”

Serenity Prayer

Metta Prayer

Night Rain at Kuang-k’ou  Yang Wan-li  (Deb)

Eagle Poem  Joy Harjo  (Katie Radditz)

Foolish Young Flowering Tree   Kim Stafford

Trees in the Wind   Kim Stafford

 

Issue #2  Humor (images: cartoons by Gary Larson) 3/26/20

jokes from Johnny, Kim, Ken, Bill & Will

 

Issue #3 Some Poems (image: Japanese picture of cherry tree) 4/2/20

Out breath  Ryokan

Celestial Laws  Walt Whitman

sweet spring    e.e. cummings

a lover and his lass   Shakespeare

From the Train   Kim Stafford

Dennis Takes Us to the Old Trees   Kim Stafford

I Ask for Silence   Pablo Neruda

 

Issue #4 Walt Whitman (image: painting of WW by Rick Bartow) 4/9/20

Miracles by Walt Whitman

link to Marfa Interview with Johnny about “Song of Myself”

Teach Me to See, Walt! by Johnny

Song of Myself brief quotes: “seeing, hearing, feeling are miracles…this head more than churches, bibles and all the creeds,” “Whoever degrades another…,” “Dazzling and tremendous…,” “In all people I see myself…,” “This minute that comes to me…,” “Each moment and whatever happens…,” “Why should I wish to see God…in the faces of men and women I see God…”

link to whitmanalabama.com from Perrin Kerns

Kim Stafford’s story about his dad and Walt Whitman

 

Issue #5 Rumi (edited by Prabu Muruganantham) (picture of flower) 4/16/20

A Just Finishing Candle

The Sunrise Ruby

Prabu’s poem: “You too are flowering”

Where Everything is Music

Rumi story from Kim

Guest House from Johnny

Nancy Yeilding’s essay “Two Ways of Talking”

Bill Hughes’ thoughts and poem “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing…”

 

Issue #6 Shakespeare (picture of young Johnny with Shakespeare sweatshirt) 4/23/20

some thoughts

All the world’s a stage

eat no onions

lost all my mirth…what a piece of work is a man

sermons in stones, and good in everything.

Alexander died…might they not stop a beer barrel?

Our revels now are ended

The quality of mercy

My bounty is boundless as the sea,/ My love as deep…

A knave, a rascal, an eater of broken meats…

Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments

 

Issue #7 Happiness (picture by Jan Steen: The Merry Family) 4/30/20

yogi tea tags

The baby beats the nurse…   Shax

commentary on The Merry Family: link to Rijksmuseum

Happiness     Carl Sandburg

a few words about Twelfth Night: “Care’s an enemy to life”

Gary Larson cartoon about the absent Bluebird of Happiness

link to Louis Armstrong’s “A Lot of Living to Do”

aphorism: Happiness is the art of not making yourself miserable.

aphorism: The soul of sweet delight can never be defiled.   Blake

“The Salutation”    Thomas Traherne

Beginning My Studies    Walt Whitman

Shirt of a Happy Man story

from Writing for Happiness  by Kim Stafford—to be with happ is to be happ-y

“Gift”  Miłosz

“Happiness”   Jane Kenyon

 

Issue #8 Ingersoll: Crimes Against Criminals (picture of Robert G. Ingersoll) 5/7/20

Crimes Against Criminals

“in this world hate never yet dispelled hate…”

 

Issue #9 Compassion (Picture of Einstein)  5/14/20

Einstein quote

Gregory Boyle on Compassion and Kinship

links to Homeboy Industries and to TED talk

Please Call Me By My True Names

 

Issue #10 Love (picture of Hafiz)  5/21/20

The Subject Tonight is Love   Hafiz

The Noble Ninefold Path   Johnny

Response to Ninefold Path Essay  Shad Alexander

 

Issue #11 Peaceable Kingdom  (painting by Charles Erickson)   5/28/20

Penn’s letter to the Indians

Thomas Traherne: “Your enjoyment of the world is never right…”

Kindness by Naomi Shihab Nye

Whitman: “Whoever walks a furlong without sympathy…others will punctually come forever and ever”

 

Issue #12 Meditation, Dialogue & Study  (Goya’s Sleep of Reason) 6/4/20

some thoughts on depression: letter to E. about meditation, dialogue & study

 

Issue #13 Black Lives Matter  (image of George Floyd)   6/11/20

quote from Martin Luther King:  …black revolution more than a struggle for rights of Negroes

some thoughts by me and quotes from: 

King: “love is creative understanding goodwill for all men” 

Buddha: “In this world, hate never yet dispelled hate…” 

1 John 4:8

Blake: Love to faults is always blind

more Blake quotes:

Every thing that lives is Holy

Children of a future age…

Art Degraded Imagination Denied War Governed the Nations

more thoughts from me

recommendation for Between the World and Me, The New Jim Crow & film “13th”

excerpt from King’s sermon “Loving Your Enemies”

 

Issue #14 Mostly Poems (Blake image: When the morning stars sang together)  6/18/20

Blake quote: “The tree that moves some to tears of joy…”

Buckminster Fuller photo & quote: “I always say to myself: What’s the most

Inmate Calls Home by Kim Stafford

poems sent by Howard:

Life-and-Death by Uchiyama Roshi

It Is I Who Must Begin by Václav Havel

from Song of Myself: “I peruse manifold objects” & “Dazzling and tremendous”

“A woman went to see her therapist…” by Johnny

 

Issue #15 Ripple Effect (image of ripples in water)   6/25/20

“If I can stop one heart from breaking…” by Emily Dickinson

letter exchange on “the ripple effect” between Josh Underhill and me

 

Issue #16 Blake: Innocence and Experience (Laughing Song image) 7/2/20

some thoughts on going from innocence to experience

four poems by William Blake:

Infant Joy

Laughing Song

The School Boy

The GARDEN of  LOVE

Wordsworth’s “Intimations of Immortality” (first third)

quote from Hamlet: “I have of late, but wherefore I know not, lost all my mirth…”

 

Issue #17 Remembering Nick Picture of Nick Consoletti  7/9/20

Can I see another’s woe, and not be in sorrow, too…?

Lonnie’s letter

some thoughts about Nick by me

 

Issue #18 Kim Stafford Featured Poet (Picture of Kim and Johnny)   7/16/20

To Be a Better Person essay by Kim Stafford

Dew & Honey poem by Kim Stafford

Two Rivers poem by Kim Stafford

“So many people are shut up tight inside themselves…” Sylvia Plath

“This is what you shall do…” Walt Whitman

link to talk by Cornel West on “What It Means to Be Human”

Kim’s aphorisms on poetry

 

Issue #19 Metaphors: Battle or Picnic?  (picture of Emerson)   7/23/20

Emerson quote about metaphors

Battle or Picnic? essay by Johnny

Sifter by Naomi Shihab Nye

The Panther by Rilke

There Will Come Soft Rains by Sara Teasdale  

link to Sacred Economics video featuring Charles Eisenstein

 

Issue #20 Humor Issue   (Gary Larson cartoon: Nerds in hell) 7/30/20

two Gary Larson cartoons

one cartoon by Lars Kenseth

lots of jokes

link to video of people in India singing and dancing on top of a train

 

Issue #21 Culture that Nurtures (picture of Wisłowa Szymborska)   8/6/20

Consolation by Wisłowa Szymborska

The Tuft of Flowers by Robert Frost

The Fact of Forgiveness by Kim Stafford

 

Issue #22 My mind started to blossom… (picture of Aaron Gilbert as Toby Belch) 8/13/20

Letter about Love in prison by Aaron Gilbert

Poetry Class at the Women’s Prison by Kim Stafford

A Blessing by James Wright

 

Issue #23 Poems, Stories, Letters, Thoughts (picture of four actors from Midsummer Night’s Dream)   8/20/20

Practical Illusions by Kim Stafford

Kim Stafford, Ace Reporter poem by Johnny Stallings

Katie Radditz’s story about sitting next to Aaron Gilbert’s mom at play

my letter to Howard about how men honoring me in the dialogue circle

Whitman quote: “This minute that comes to me over the past decillions…

my thoughts about Kim’s poem

Thomas Traherne quote: “There was never a tutor that did professly teach Felicity”

 

Issue #24  Meditation and Mindfulness (image of Avalokiteśvara from Ajanta) 8/27/20

Kingdom of God is within you Bible quote (Luke 17: 20-21)

intro to Open Road Meditation & Mindfulness Project by me

Thomas Traherne: “Our blessedness, like His, is infinite…”

Pico Iyer about seeing the world more clearly and loving it more deeply

Walt: “There is that in me—I do not know what it is—but I know it is in me…

johnnypoem: “when you see how simple it is to be happy…”

notice of Deborah’s publication of three chapbooks

Deborah’s poem Early Morning Hours

Wendell Berry: Ask the world to reveal its quietude…

Huxley quote: “Unrestrained and indiscriminate talk…”

Thich Nhat Hanh: “Mindfulness is when you are truly there…”

Finding Deep Calm story about Gheed in Palestine by Kim 

Invitation to join Meditation & Mindfulness Project by me

Hafiz on perfection: “the movement of your breath…the beating of our hearts”

 

Issue #25 Interview with Ashley Lucas (photos of Ashley and Jeff Sanders &  Joe Opyd with his mom, Sharon Lemm, and Aunt Andrea) 9/3/20

Interview with Ashley

links for ordering her books, link to Open Hearts Open Minds, link to Open Road

 

Issue #26 Paradise of Books (image of Don Quixote in his library by Gustave Doré) 9/10/20

thoughts on books and bibliophilia

catalog of animals by Borges

thoughts on books that changed my inner landscape

Sonnet #1 by Joshua Barnes

Sheltering in Place #12 by Doug Marx

YARD SALE by Nick Eldredge

 

Issue #27 Smoky (image of the Platters) 9/17/20

It’s smoky: links to “Meeting in Smoky Places,” “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes,” and Smokey Robinson

Inmate Fights Fire by Kim Stafford

Second Chance by Randall Brown

Smokey the Bear Sutra by Gary Snyder

link to Smokey the Bear song with Eddy Arnold

 

Issue #28  How Hippies May Still Save the World (image of Flora by Botticelli) 9/24/20

How Hippies May Still Save the World essay by Johnny

lyrics to “Love’s In Need of Love Today” by Stevie Wonder & link to song

some lyrics from “What the World Needs Now” and link to song

lyrics to “All You Need Is Love”  and link to song

lyrics to “Get Together” and link to song

lyrics to “San Francisco” and link to song

 

Issue #29 Gary Snyder and FOUR CHANGES (image of Gary Snyder) 10/1/20

Holy Smokes by Kim Stafford

FOUR CHANGES  by Gary Snyder & link to Gary Snyder reading it

 

Issue #30 The Golden World (image of glass of water) 10/8/20

The Golden World essay by Johnny

 

Issue #31 Pollyanna (image of Mary Pickford) 10/15/20

The Glad Game from Pollyanna

link to Reasons to Be Cheerful website

link to talk by David Korten

link to talk by Charles Eisenstein

link to talk by Thich Nhat Hanh

Our Next Big Thing by Kim Stafford

Gary Larson Hell cartoon: “We’re just not reaching that guy”

 

Issue #32 Loving the Earth (image of sunrise from atop Big Mountain) 10/22/20

For Papatūānuku – Mother Earth by Nadine Anne Hura

A note of gratitude from Nadine

link to an essay by Nadine Anne Hura: “I’m Reclaiming the Name I Lost”

“I peruse manifold objects…” brief passage from “Song of Myself”

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver

Earth Dweller by William Stafford & link to him reading the poem

Pied Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins

“Weary of those who come with words…” by Tomas Tranströmer

“My Work is Loving the World” by Mary Oliver

 

Issue #33 Gettysburg Addresses (image of Lord Buckley) 10/29/20

Revising Genesis by Kim Stafford

For All by Gary Snyder

The Color of Eyes by Deborah Buchanan

Everything is Going to Be All Right by Derek Mahon

Inversnaid by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Abe & I by Kim Stafford

The Gettysburg Address by Lord Buckley and link to him performing it

The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln

 

Issue #34 Gandhi  (picture of Mahatman Gandhi) 11/5/20

Nitya’s encounter with Gandhi from Love and Blessings

some thoughts about having to be right by Johnny

brief Gandhi bio

Gandhi quotes

 

Issue #35 Writings of Lonnie Glinski (picture of Lonnie as Ophelia) 11/12/20

excerpt from letter from Lonnie

lyrics to Somebody Famous by Lonnie

excerpt from letter from Lonnie

lyrics to Bloom Where You Landed by Lonnie

lyrics to And They Just Smile by Lonnie

lyrics to It Ain’t Me by Lonnie

 

Issue #36 Freedom’s Firm Foundation (picture of Nitya, Nancy & Peter O.) 11/19/20

Finding Freedom’s Firm Foundation essay by Nancy Yeilding

 

Issue #37 Writing Poems (picture of Pablo Neruda & Matilde Urrutia) 11/26/20

i thank You God by e. e. cummings

Poetry by Pablo Neruda

Writing as Ritual essay by Kim Stafford

My Sheltering Sky by Kim Stafford

Poetry Doctor by Kim Stafford

 

Issue #38 Pictures (not words) 12/10/20

drawings by: Saul Steinberg, Franciszka Themerson, Hakuin, Leonard Cohen, B. Kliban, Ralph Steadman, José Guadalupe Posada, Hokusai, Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, John Lennon, Amadeo Modigliani, Rick Bartow, James Thurber, John Tenniel, Charles Erickson, Maurice Sendak, Mark Alan Stamaty, Andrew Larkin, Hugo Anaya, Jake Scharbach, Peter Schumann, William Blake, Dr. Seuss, Rube Goldberg, Winsor McKay, Gary Larson

link to OK Go:” This Too Shall Pass” Rube Goldberg Machine video

 

Issue #39 Poetry Corner (image of Mr. Natural watering the Tree of Possibilities) 12/23/20

“I believe the soggy clods…” quote from Walt

“Since water still flows…” by Li Po

Found Kin by Jeff Kuehner

Elemental Thoughts by Joshua Barnes

THE MEANING OF THIS by Alex Tretbar

Hindsight (2020) by Joshua Barnes

Think Twice by Kim Stafford

Your Sovereignty by Kim Stafford

Winter Feet by Esther Elizabeth

Daily Bread by Esther Elizabeth

What Issa Heard by David Budbill

 

Issue #40 Allegory of the Cave (image of Plato’s cave) 1/7/21

Wonder by Thomas Traherne

DUST by Alex Tretbar

Allegory of the Cave by Plato

 

Issue #41 Loving Your Enemies (photo of Martin Luther King) 1/21/21

Loving Your Enemies sermon by Martin Luther King, November 17, 1957

 

Issue #42 The Hill We Climb (screen shot of Amanda Gorman) 2/4/21

The Hill We Climb poem by Amanda Gorman

link to Amanda Gorman reciting The Hill We Climb

Prabu’s thoughts on Tolstoy’s novel Resurrection

 

Issue #43 Valentine’s Day Special: Love Poems (image of Paolo and Francesca) 2/18/21

kissing rocks and throwing them story

Love to faults is always blind by William Blake

The lunatic, the lover, and the poet by Shakespeare

i carry your heart by e. e. cummings

I Loved You Before I Was Born by Li-Young Lee

The Song of Wandering Aengus by W. B. Yeats

This Is Just To Say by William Carlos Williams

What We’re Doing Here by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

I Knew a Woman by Theodore Roethke

link to Offenbach song Barcarolle sung by Elīna Garanča & Anna Netrebko

Sonnet VII by Pablo Neruda

Re-Statement of Romance by Wallace Stevens (not in prison version)

We Two, How Long We Were Fool’d

Romeo & Juliet: “If I profane with my unworthiest hand…” sonnet

Juliet: “My bounty is as boundless as the sea”

 

Issue #44 Harold and the Purple Crayon (image from Harold and the Purple Crayon) 3/4/21

some thoughts on Harold and the Purple Crayon

Tenniel’s illustration to A Mad Tea Party

“A Mad Tea Party” from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

 

Issue #45 Spring Equinox (peace, love, happiness & understanding is one year old!)  (picture of Daphne odora) 3/18/21

A Color of the Sky by Tony Hoagland

Oregon Dawn in Spite of the News by Kim Stafford

In Just-/spring by e. e. cummings

O sweet spontaneous by e. e. cummings

Spring, the sweete spring, is the yeres pleasant King by Thomas Nashe

Spring by Gerard Manley Hopkins

A Thin Sliver at the Door (prose) by Deborah Buchanan

Come Spring by Dorianne Laux

A Light exists in Spring by Emily Dickinson

Spring comes on the World –  by Emily Dickinson

Issa:

Look at this world even its

Grasshoppers in the chilly breeze

Spring rain: 

Basho:

I don’t know

Spring!

Chiyo-ni:

the pheasant sings-

I forget

squatting

to be in a world

Thank you’s to contributors to “peace, love, happiness & understanding”

 

Issue #46 Story Poems (picture of Aged Aged Man by John Tenniel) 4/1/21

And the people stayed home by Kitty O’Meara

Nirvana by Charles Bukowski

Abou Ben Adhem by Leigh Hunt

The Thee Hermits by William Butler Yeats

Three Angels by Bob Dylan

A Story That Could Be True by William Stafford

The Aged Aged Man by Lewis Carroll

 

Issue #47 Singer Come from Afar (picture of the cover of Kim Stafford’s book) 4/15/21

Poetry in Prison by Kim Stafford

Blue Brick from the Midwest by Kim Stafford

Ask Me by William Stafford

God made a little Gentian – by Emily Dickinson

The Divine Image by William Blake

Waxwings by Robert Francis

Meditations 47 & 48 from the Second Century of Meditations by Thomas Traherne

 

Issue #48 Bibliomania (picture of cover of Autobiography of a Yogi) 4/29/21

Bibliomania essay by Johnny

Prospero’s speech: “Our revels now are ended…”

 

No issues of peace, love, happiness & understanding in May (Mexico vacation)

 

Issue #49 Wisława Szymborska Nobel Lecture (picture of Wisława Szymborska) 6/10/21

Wisława Szymborska Nobel Lecture

 

Issue #50  Johnny’s Imaginary TED Talk About Love (picture of sidewalk message: EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY) 6/24/21

Johnny’s imaginary TED talk about love

For the Bird Singing Before Dawn by Kim Stafford

Letter to the Mothers and Fathers of Palestine and Israel by Charles Busch

link to Fields of Peace website

 

Issue #51 Dreams of Better Worlds (pictures: 3 by Crumb of futures, big orange splot, Wague mural) 7/8/21

Paradise essay by Johnny

 

Issue #52 The Art of Happiness (picture of Slava Polunin) 7/22/21

Slava Polunin’s TED talk

 

Issue #53 The Three Questions (picture of Leo Tolstoy) 8/5/21

The Three Questions (story)

 

Issue #54 War: What is It Good For? (picture: First and Last Day of Spring by Jonathan Winters) 8/19/21

quotes from Ten Commandments, Dhammapada, Hermann Göring, and the song “War” by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong

Michel Deforge’s response to Kim Stafford’s poem “Old Glory’s New Red, Black, and Blue”

some thoughts by Johnny on Pacifism

Kim Stafford’s poem “Old Glory’s New Red, Black, and Blue”

 

Issue #55 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (picture of United Nations flag) 9/2/21

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

 

Issue #56 Another Humor Issue (picture of Mother Hubbard & her dog) 9/16/21

Old Mother Hubbard Nursery Rhyme

lots of jokes

 

Issue #57 HEART! (picture of loteria card El Corazon) 9/30/21

Pascal quote: The heart has its reasons…

Rocky’s essay: HEART!

wake up, heart! by Johnny Stallings

Love Therapy in My Second Home by Alokananda Roy

 

Issue #58 Johnny’s Brief Guide to Ancient Greece (pictures of “The Death of Socrates” by David, and a bust of Aeschylus) 10/14/21

Essay by Johnny about “Suppliants” project and Greek Philosophy & Drama

 

Issue #59  Poems from the Last Five Days by Kim Stafford (photos taken at the beach by Kim) 10/28/21

five poems with commentaries by Kim Stafford

 

Issue #60 Recipe for Living a Life Rich in Meaning (pictures of four bodhisattvas: Brenda Erickson, Dick Willis, Jude Russell & Jack Baird) 11/11/21

“Beginning My Studies” by Walt Whitman

“My Recipe for Living a Life Rich in Meaning” by Johnny

 

Issue #61 Goldfinches! (picture of Goldfinch) 11/25/21

Johnny’s theater piece: “Goldfinches!”

 

Issue #62 A Christmas Carol (picture of Scrooge beholding the Spirit of Christmas Present) 12/9/21

Abridged version of “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens (for reading aloud)

 

Issue #63 Dream of a Ridiculous Man (picture of Goya’s sleeper dreaming Peaceable Kingdom) 12/23/21

Johnny’s version of Dostoevsky’s short story “Dream of a Ridiculous Man”

 

Issue #64 Brother West (photo of Cornel West) 1/6/22

Cornell West on “What It Means to Be Human”

 

Issue #65 Big Sky Country  (picture of Glacier National Park) 1/20/22

Photos and Texts by Abe Green, including:

Dew & Honey by Kim Stafford

Rain by Neall Ryon

quote from Love and Blessings

quote from Dhammapada: “All that we are arises with our thoughts…”

(Mexico vacation)

 

Issue #66 Big Sky Country Part Two (picture of bee on lilac blossom) 2/24/22

Photos and Texts by Abe Green, including:

Where the bee sucks, there suck I

Birth is not the beginning/ Death is not the end quote from Chuang Tzu

The smallest sprout shows there is really no death quote from Walt Whitman

So here I sit by my campfire… by Abe Green

It’s the job of wise people… by Johnny Stallings

thoughts on Earth’s inhabitants by Abe Green

Lessons from a Tree by Kim Stafford

The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry

thoughts on broken objects by Abe Green

 

Issue #67 What Are Some of Your Favorite Books? (picture of the cover of Borgel) 3/10/22

Some favorite books from Kim Stafford, Patrick Walsh, Ken Margolis, Deborah Buchanan, Jude Russell, Bill Faricy, Will Hornyak, Jeffrey Sher and Johnny Stallings.

 

Issue #68 War & Peace & Spring! (photos of plum tree and Ukrainian refugees) 3/24/22

link to Spring Equinox issue of peace, love, happiness & understanding (3/18/21)

Plum Trees in War by Kim Stafford

Thomas Bray’s favorite books

Vernal Sentiment by Theodore Roethke

Katie’s favorite books

On Pilgrimage by Czeslaw Milosz

At the Un-National Monument along the Canadian Border by William Stafford

a favorite book of Michel Deforge

favorite books of Brandon Gillespie and his thoughts on Spring and War

let’s pretend by Johnny Stallings

My Foolproof Plan for World Peace by Johnny Stallings

link to Ukraine meditation group

 

Issue #69 Carl Sandburg (picture of Potato Face Blind Man) 4/7/22

Definitions of Poetry by Carl Sandburg

The Potato Face Blind Man Who Lost the Diamond Rabbit on His Gold Accordion by Carl Sandburg

How the Potato Face Blind Man Enjoyed Himself on a Fine Spring Morning by Carl Sandburg

The Right to Grief by Carl Sandburg

Happiness by Carl Sandburg

link to Those Darn Accordions playing Let Me Stand Next to Your Fire by Jimi Hendrix

link to Flaco Jimenez, Mingo Saldivar, Pete Ybarra, David Farias & David Lee Garza

link to Clifton Chenier playing Tighten Up

 

Issue #70 A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Prison (picture of Bottom & Titania) 4/21/22

link to National Poetry Month on poets.org website

link to Shakespeare issue of “peace, love, happiness & understanding” 4/23/20

plug for upcoming Bibliophiles!, and link to Keith on the Mysteries of Shakespeare’s Sonnets

announcement of Portland premiere of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Prison

the history of prison dialogues and plays: how A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Prison came to be

 

Issue #71 Some Poems (picture of sidewalk covered with cherry blossoms) 5/5/22

A Question by Joshua Barnes

Flickering by Joshua Barnes

thoughts on akrasia by Alex Tretbar

a blue little flower is nodding by Alex Tretbar

the rumor by Nick Eldredge

How to Be an Old Man of Some Scant Worth by Kim Stafford

earth the door Orpheus goes through by Deborah Buchanan

Ghost River by Deborah Buchanan

Ukraine by Mark Alter

my sangha by Johnny Stallings

amateur dilettante by Johnny Stallings

 

Issue #72 Poems By Women (first page has Emily Dickinson; pictures of the other poets accompany their poems) 5/19/22

The Infinite a sudden Guest by Emily Dickinson

A Light exists in Spring by Emily Dickinson

O Taste and See by Denise Levertov

from My Wisdom by Naomi Shihab Nye

Happiness by Jane Kenyon

from Reconciliation: A Prayer by Joy Harjo

At Blackwater Pond by Mary Oliver

Miracle Fair by Wisława Szymborska

The Award by Alice Walker

Despite the Hunger by Alice Walker

 

Issue #73 Walt on my mind…and in my heart (painting of Walt Whitman by Rick Bartow) 6/2/22

Celebration of Walt Whitman’s 203rd birthday

link to April 9, 2020 issue of peace, love & happiness, celebrating Walt Whitman

link to new Friends of Walt Archive on the Open Road website

Emerson’s letter to Whitman

excerpt from Emerson’s essay “The Poet”

link to May 7, 2020 issue of peace, love & happiness, which featured Ingersoll’s essay “Crimes Against Criminals”

Address at the Funeral of Walt Whitman by Robert G. Ingersoll (March 30, 1892)

 

Issue #74 Interview With Bryan Joyner (picture of Bryan Joyner) 7/7/22

Excerpts from CRCI Studio Interview with Bryan Joyner and link to YouTube video of interview

 

Issue #75 Adventure Tales! (picture of Edith Mirante in Burma 8/4/22

Tales of Adventure from:

Edith Mirante

Kim Stafford

Nick Eldredge

Johnny Stallings

Abe Green

 

Issue #76 William Blake (Blake’s painting “River of Life”) 9/1/22

Love to faults is always blind…

Art Degraded, Imagination Denied, War Governed the Nations

Children of the future Age…

The Garden of Love

To see a World in a Grain of Sand…

aphorisms from The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

from the Preface to Blake’s poem “Milton”

The Little Vagabond

from The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

Enion’s lament from The Four Zoas

from Visions of the Last Judgment

 

Issue #77 Kate Brown on Clemency (picture of Governor Kate Brown) 10/6/22

Amanda Waldroupe’s Guardian article about Oregon Governor Kate Brown’s historic use of clemency

 

Issue #78 R. H. Blyth (picture of R. H. Blyth) (12/1/22)

Essay by Howard Thoresen on R. H. Blyth

 

Issue #79 Tender Buttons edited by Alex Tretbar (picture of Gertrude Stein) (1/5/23)

Essay “A Carafe in Bb Major” by Alex Tretbar

“Special Features” poem by Alex Tretbar

“no comas” by Irene Cooper

“the buttons are as tender as we make them” by Laura Winberry

Excerpt from the song “Tender Buttons” by Trish Keenan of the band Broadcast

“Stein’s Enigmas” essay by Kim Stafford

“Lone Pine in Scotland” poem by Kim Stafford

 

Issue #80 Something That Changed the Way You See the World  (poster of “Song of Myself” by Rick Bartow) (2/2/23) 

“In Memory of My Literary Godmother” by Will Hornyak

“Coincidence” by Kim Stafford

Story about visiting Sam Alley in hospice by Charles Erickson

Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” by Johnny Stallings

The family I choose by Rocky Hutchinson

“Five Tanka Written Upon Spending the Night in a New Apartment” by Alex Tretbar

“Leftover Rainwater” by Elizabeth Domike

 

Issue #81 Favorite Poems (picture of a stone wall with a gate) (3/2/23) 

“Vernal Sentiment” by Theodore Roethke (Jeffrey Sher)

“After an Illness, Walking the Dog” by Jane Kenyon (Elizabeth Domike)

“I thought of all the doors that had opened and closed… by Jo Harjo (Deborah Buchanan)

“A Meadow” by Czeslaw Milosz (Deborah Buchanan)

“The Waking” by Theodore Roethke (Dave Duncan)

“Easter, 1916” by William Butler Yeats (Mark Danley)

“Together, We all go out Under the Cypress Trees in the Chou Family Burial-Grounds” by T’ao Ch’ien (Katie Radditz)

“Reading an Anthology of Chinese Poems of the Sung Dynasty, I pause to Admire the Length and Clarity of their Titles” by Billy Collins (Katie Radditz)

“May I never by complete…” by Chuck Palahniuk (Jeff Kuehner)

“Afternoon” by Max Ritvo (Alex Tretbar)

“Valentine” by Ken Hunt (Kim Stafford)

“Mending Wall” by Robert Frost (Scott Teitsworth)

“The Salutation” by Thomas Traherne (Johnny Stallings)

from “I Corinthians, Chapter 13” by Paul the Apostle (Ken Margolis)

 

Issue #82 Favorite Films (picture of “The Rink”) (4/6/23) 

“In the Beginning” and “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (Kim Stafford)

“Ted Lasso,” “Wings of Desire,” “Moonrise Kingdom,” “The Big Lebowski,” “Hail, Caesar!,” “Bliss,” “Brazil,” “The Kingdom of the Fairies” & “The Rink” (Johnny Stallings)

“The Count of Monte Cristo” (Brandon Gillespie)

Book: This is Happiness by Niall Williams; Film: “The Mission” (Will Hornyak)

Will sent a poem he wrote: “Why Baseball Matters”

“The Rules of the Game” & “The Rider” (Ken Margolis)

“Wings of Desire” (Elizabeth Domike)

“Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison” & “Heimat” (Katie Radditz)

“The Crying Game” & “The Lives of Others” (Jude Russell)

“Withnail & I” (Alex Tretbar)

“Andrei Rublev” & “Tree of Life” (Prabu Muruganantham)

 

Issue #83  Books That Changed the Way You See the World (picture of For Your Own Good) (5/4/23) 

The Man Who Loved Children  (Ken Margolis)

The Skull Mantra  (Elizabeth Domike)

Hope for the Flowers, Johnny Got His Gun & The Power of Myth  (Nicole Rush)

The Mahabharata  (Charles Erickson)

Green Mansions  (Katie Radditz)

Nicholas and Alexandra, Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, American Prometheus & The Orientalist  (Jude Russell)

For Your Own Good, Woman and Nature, “Factory” & “Song of Myself”  (Johnny Stallings)

For Your Own Good  (Todd Oleson)

Man’s Search for Meaning, Writing My Wrongs, The Master Plan, My Grandmother’s Hands, Homecoming & The Body Keeps the Score  (Michel Deforge)

 

Issue #84  Peace (picture of young man putting a flower in the barrel of a gun) (6/1/23)

Poems by Deborah Buchanan: “Early Morning Hours,” “The Only Now,” “Unexpected,” “The Tree in the Universe”

Thoughts on peace, including poem “My Foolproof Plan for World Peace” by Johnny Stallings

“Bolinas” by Tom Clark, submitted by Alex Tretbar

Thoughts on peace by Rocky Hutchinson

“Siddhartha’s prayer” by Bill Faricy

“Surrounded” by Elizabeth Domike

“Peace Tree” by Kim Stafford

“Peace Within, Peace Without”: thoughts on peace by Jude Russell

Thoughts on peace by Ken Margolis

 

Issue #85  Visions of Utopia & Paradise (picture of The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine) (8/3/23)

Quote from Slava Polunin

Gonzalo’s utopia from The Tempest

Excerpt from interview with Stratis Panourios about utopia and The Tempest in prison

Johnny’s thoughts on utopia & paradise

Poem by Tasos Leivaditis, translated from the Greek by Spiros Chrisovitsianos

“Borrowed Aura” poem by Kim Stafford

“Words for Cup and Water” poem by Elizabeth Domike

“What an Angel Said” poem by Alex Tretbar

“Perfect Day” poem by Johnny Stallings

Quote from Alan Watts

 

Issue #86  peace, love, happiness & understanding (picture of Rocky Hutchinson with eight puppies) (9/7/23)

quote from Ai Weiwei

“YARKHOTO” poem by Ai Qing

letter from Abe Green

letter from Rocky Hutchinson

“Prairie Radio” poem by Kim Stafford

excerpt from “The Final Frontier” essay by Brian Doyle

 

Issue #87  Black Elk’s Vision (picture of Black Elk) (10/5/23)

passages from Black Elk Speaks by Black Elk & John G. Neihardt

“All My Relations” by Kim Stafford

“My House is the Red Earth” by Joy Harjo

“Grandfathers Whispering” by John Trudell

“MOTHER EARTH: HER WHALES” by Gary Snyder

passage from The Sacred Pipe by Black Elk & Joseph Epes Brown

 

Issue #88  The War Prayer (picture of Peanuts cartoon) (11/2/23)

“Other Laws of War” by Kim Stafford

“The War Prayer” by Mark Twain

story about New York City teacher Sari Beth Rosenberg from CNN

some thoughts by Johnny Stallings

“Please Call Me by My True Names” by Thich Nhat Hanh 

 

Issue #89  Letters from Rocky and Lots of Poems (picture of Lake Grinnell in Glacier National Park) (12/7/23)

Letters from Rocky

“Gate A-4,” a poem by Naomi Shihab Nye

Kurt Vonnegut quote about doing things because you enjoy them

“Driving to the Headlands on the 23rd of December,” poem by Gail Lester

“Water Song,” poem by Kim Stafford

video of starling murmuration

“Honesty,” poem by Elizabeth Domike

poem by Alex Tretbar

some thoughts by Johnny Stallings, with Dhammapada quote

 

Issue #90  Celebration! (picture of Alan & Christine, with Santa and dogs & cat) (1/4/24)

some thoughts on celebration by Johnny

“I am with you” poem by Kim Stafford

“The Three Wise Men” poem by Will Hornyak

 

Issue #91 What has enlarged your world? (picture of Nancy in Guanajuato) (2/1/24)

The Key to Sweden by Kim Stafford

Alex Tretbar recommends In Search of Lost Time 

Johnny Stallings’ thoughts on the question “What has enlarged your world?”

Elizabeth Domike’s thoughts on the question “What has enlarged your world?”

Katie Radditz’s thoughts on the question “What has enlarged your world?”

 

Issue #92  Abundance! (picture of Mexican ceramic Tree of World Literature) (3/7/24)

Thoughts on Abundance by Johnny, including passages from King Lear, Ulysses & “Song of Myself”  

“Some Tides” poem by Will Hornyak  

Preface to The Lagniappe by Kim Stafford  

passage from “Last Prayer” essay by Brian Doyle

 

Issue #93  Creativity! (picture of Martha Graham) (4/4/24)

letter by Martha Graham about creativity

“Wild Visioning” poem by Kim Stafford

“How to Make a Poem” poem by Kim Stafford

“Creativity” essay by Kim Stafford about Naomi Shihab Nye’s essay “Maintenance”

quotes from William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway sent by Keith Scales

“The Choice” poem by W. B. Yeats sent by Keith Scales

“My Process of Creativity” essay by Deborah Buchanan, including three of her poems:

“Her Gaze Never Drops”

“white orchid”

“Retroactive Prayers”

two ancient Mexican poems sent by Andy Larkin:

“Here through art I shall live forever…”

“The Artist”

“Sisters” essay by Elizabeth Domike

four short poems by Johnny Stallings:

“The trick of a poem is:”

“i want to go to the place where poems come from”

“the unwritten poem”

“if i could put into words what i see out this window”

 

Issue #94  Mostly Poems (picture of cow weathervane, with bird perched on it)  (5/2/24)

“Remember” poem by Joy Harjo

“Birthing Your Secret Self” poem by Kim Stafford

“Not So Much” poem by Elizabeth Domike

“MAD” poem by Brandon Lee Roy

some thoughts from Rocky Hutchinson

“We Are Seven” poem by William Wordsworth

 

Issue #95  Blogs and Other Stuff (picture of “The Young Hare” by Dürer) (6/6/24)

“The Province of Clocks” poem by Alex Tretbar

quote from Isaac Bashevis Singer about the wisdom that older people have

“About Those Web Logs (Blogs)” essay by Elizabeth Domike

some thoughts by Johnny about “peace, love, happiness & understanding” and Walt Whitman

 

Issue #96  What Stories Do You Tell Yourself to Cheer Yourself Up?  7/4/24)

Johnny’s thoughts on the stories he tells to cheer himself up

link to a “Seasons Greetings” video by J Kahn  

“The Summer Day” poem by Mary Oliver  

“A Translation Project for Peace” and the poem “A Proclamation for Peace” by Kim Stafford  

quote from Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks  

“Love the Butcher Bird Lurks Everywhere” poem by William Stafford  

“Gift” poem by Czesław Miłosz

 

Issue #97  Poems, Letters & Other Writings  (picture by Saul Steinberg) 8/1/24

“I put on my glasses” poem by John Brehm

“Walking Through a Wall” prose poem by Louis Jenkins  

J Kahn writes about “Marcel the Shell With Shoes”  

Johnny responds to what J wrote  

lyrics to “That Feel” by Tom Waits

“Nirvana” poem by Charles Bukowski  

letter from Rocky Hutchinson  

letter from Michel Deforge  

Jude writes about finding peace, love, happiness & understanding  

Katie shared Gary Snyder’s poem: “I Went Into the Maverick Bar”