The great Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai once proposed that all poetry is political:

This is because real poems deal with a human response to reality, and politics is part of reality, history in the making. Even if a poet writes about sitting in a glass house drinking tea, it reflects politics.

We would like to add that every poem—indeed, every attempt to bring a spark of beauty into the world—is an act of political resistance against the forces of hatred and cruelty. Here is a humble offering for these difficult days …

The Hidden Beatitudes

from the Sermon at the Crossroads

Blessed are those who know there to be no blessings, 
for they shall hear the music of the abyss.

Sure of foot are those who seek no benediction, 
for unto them the path is lighted.

Happy are the accursed among the phantasms of virtue,
for unto them shall be granted 
the soothing sweet aloe of shame and ignominy. 

Prodigious are those who skip stones, 
for the crashing of the surf begins 
with a pebble’s ripple upon a smooth mirroring sea. 

Able are those who master the art and mystery of blindness,
for they alone shall see their darkness.

Clever are those who wend nimbly among the snares of opinion, 
for they shall bridge the chasm between ignorance and knowledge.

Prosperous are those who give away more than they have, 
for their shoulders shall carry no burden.

Safe and sequestered are those who fear not the icy ruthlessness of love,
for they shall be warmed and caressed by moonbeams.

Giddy are those who transgress and offend,
for they shall join in the whirling dance of happy adversaries.

Vital are those who preserve the sanctity of spaces,
for every snowflake has its perfect double, 
and the last conflagration will come when like collides with like.

Cheerful are those who thrive among the ruins, 
for they shall be undeceived by hope.

Righteous are those who break the hourglass, 
for its grains are as shards of spirit 
petitioning release from the bondage of temporality. 

Clear-headed are those who wander in the realm of doubt,
for they shall not succumb to the credulity of the congregation.

Refined and discerning are the foolish and unwary,
for they shall savor with equal delight the sweetness of the wine 
and the venom of the spider in the dregs of the wine.

Buoyant are those who laugh,
for they shall not perish in the floodwaters of solemnity.

Profuse are those who are porous in selfhood,
for no vessel shall contain them, 
and the hearts of multitudes shall be their dominion.

Splendid are those who spire upon the precipice,
for they shall gaze downward upon a sky swarming with stars.

                         —Wim