Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She?

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Howdy, Campers!

My poem for Poetry Friday lurks below, as does the link to PF.

And so the calendar brings us back to our annual series of Thanks-Giving. This year we're focusing on authors we want to thank.

I'm writing this post on the day after the presidential election, 2016. And on this day, the author who comes to mind besides MLK (whose quote has literally led me through this day: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice"...King, by the way, was paraphrasing the words of 19th century abolitionist Theodore Parker...) is the indefatigable Molly Ivins.

Who, you say? Ivins was a smart, sassy, journalist and author who wrote, among other books,  Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She? (about which Ann Richards, former governor of Texas said, "Molly Ivins has birthed a book and it is more fun than riding a mechanical bull and almost as dangerous.") She was Jon Stewart before Jon Stewart was Jon Stewart.

I heard her speak in a Santa Monica, CA bookstore around 1995. Then and there I wanted to quit my job, take classes from her, be her assistant, be her best friend, carry her books...anything. I was bowled over by her honesty, passion and humor, in equal parts.

Here are a few Molly Ivins quotes that helped me today. Perhaps they'll give you energy to jump back into the fray:

"The thing is this: You got to have fun while you're fightin' for freedom, 'cause you don't always win."

"It is possible to read the history of this country as one long struggle to extend the liberties established in our Constitution to everyone in America."

"The thing about democracy, beloveds, is that it is not neat, orderly, or quiet. It requires a certain relish for confusion."

"We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action... Raise Hell. . . . We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, 'Stop it, now!'"

"Many a time freedom has been rolled back - and always for the same sorry reason: fear."

"So keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce."

Thank you, Molly Ivins, for always inspiring.

I'd hoped to wake up to a different result on November 9th. But I have...

NO REGRETS

by April Halprin Wayland

I have no regrets,

says the Great egret.

He languidly roams

like a dancer on toe
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or a plantation master

in new heeled boots,

regally cruising through

marsh grass and ooze.

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No regrets, repeats

the Great egret

as he reaches the river

mirroring sky.
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I want to ask how,

I want to ask why.
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poem © 2016 April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved

from Pixabay.com

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Thank you, Jama, for hosting today!

inspired by suffragettes (including my grandmother) and posted with love by April Halprin Wayland