Breach—"Healthcare—A Basic Human Right"

“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and inhuman.”

—Martin Luther King, Jr.—Chicago Convention of the Medical Committee for Human Rights, 1966

“When I was a kid, the disaster we worried about most was a nuclear war. But today, if anything kills over 10 million people in the next few decades, it’s most likely to be a highly infectious virus, rather than a war.”         — Bill Gates, 2015 TED talk

April 7^th was World Health Day, and the World Health Organization’s theme this year is Universal Health with coverage for all by 2030.

With the world’s rise in population, growing income disparity, and the effects of climate change on health, Universal Healthcare has become a fundamental human right that is essential for the well being of the planet.

Vessel #81—Breach

In the 53 years since Martin Luther King spoke about the inequities of healthcare how far has the world progressed in overcoming these inequities?

 • At least half of the world’s population is currently unable to obtain essential health services (World Health Organization-WHO, Dec. 2017)    

• The effects of climate change are already having a profound effect on the spread of infectious diseases. 9 out of 10 people breathe unsafe air that results in 7 million deaths each year. (WHO, May 2018)

• More than 50% of the world lives with chronic disease (World Economic Forum, Jan. 2018)

* Since the current administration took office in 2017 the number of Americans without health insurance has increased by 7 million (National Health and Well-Being Index). Those that do have coverage saw their premiums rise by 34% in 2018. (Congressional Budget Office, May 2018).

• April 22 is Earth Day—Don’t forget to do something to improve the planet.

Breach

Tempers flare on the cusp of a bulging amaryllis.

Octopeds roam aimlessly with an androgynous gait,

sucking sap with inebriated abandon.

Tumors wake in the night

with an insatiable craving for healthy tissue,

dividing and scattering with the choreography

of a battalion reeling out of control.

The mission, defined by random improvisation,

begins with an order for the insurgents

to march into darkness and leave no survivors.

Somnolent heterotrophs spread their dormant blankets

on shelves lined with a mesozoic membrane.

Crystalline crust splits a glacial sentinel in Nome.

A bovine uterus entertains an entourage in a Chicago slaughterhouse.

A slumbering anemone shares its bed in a Somoan atoll.

The uninvited interloper folds

its pathogenic arms around an unsuspecting host,

using instinct and guile to mount

the climax of its preordained cycle.

A knock on the door at night

freezes worms chewing on battens

and sends chills through the crevices in dreams.

Buckled boots cross thresholds

with an authority forged in spit-shined metal,

and a belief that their tongues and hearts

reside in a place reserved for celestial bodies.

Motion comes to a halt for the impediments of time:

munitions, mortars, missiles, mines,

penicillin, potassium, procarbazine, plutonium,

a call to arms, a call to awaken, a call for help.

Bones turn to ash, ash to earth,

as spirits are set free to wander in a place

somewhere between a reveille and a refrain.

"Beware the Ides of March"

"Beware the Ides of March"—A warning from a soothsayer to Shakespeare's Julius Caesar on his impending death.

As we move closer toward the Ides (middle) of March it’s time to put a finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing.

“Who has seen the wind? Neither you nor I but 

when the trees bow down their heads, the wind is passing by." 

Christina Rossetti, 1872

Vessel #35—First Cause           Vessel # 59—Shift                      Yesnaby Cliffs, Orkney Islands, Scotland

In scientific terms wind is formed as hot air rises and cooler air moves in to fill the void. With the ability to pick up speed and form a vortex, wind is able to become a swirling tornado or a 
devastating hurricane*.

In political terms rhetoric rises as reason drifts and hot air fills the void—Red vs. Blue, Honesty vs. Deceit, Freedom vs. Order.

Where will the tempest shift next?

    Kaze no Iro

    the color of wind

     turns cobalt under the sea

      green fish kiss the sky

             

     From Unhinged, A Haiku Tsunami by Jeff Key

Vessel # 59—Shift                                                         Vessel # 35—First Cause 
Wood, 105" x 48" x 12"                                             Wood & Flax, 72" x 50" x 10"  

                                                                                                               
• The March 2019 tornado in Alabama reached wind speeds of 170 mph (EF-4 on the Tornado Scale) with a path 24 miles long. It killed 24 people.

• Typhoon Wutip, formed in February near Guam, became the first Category 5 storm ever recorded in the month of February in the Northern Hemisphere with winds reaching 180 mph.

*Tornados are wind masses that form over land, hurricanes form over oceans in the Atlantic and Northeast Pacific. The same oceanic wind mass is called a typhoon in the Northwest Pacific and a cyclone in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean.

It Must Have Been Love

We can complain because rose bushes have thorns,

or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses. —A. Lincoln

If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love.  

                                                                             — Maya Angelou

February is the shortest month of the year—the month of love, commemorating Presidents, honoring Black History, tracking the groundhog (Punxsutawney Phil didn't see his shadow—so look for an early spring.....and celebrating some of the most overlooked days of the year—

• Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk Day (11th)  • Get a Different Name Day (13th)

• Do a Grouch a Favor Day (16th)   • Random Acts of Kindness Day (17th)

          .........and of course— • Be Humble Day (22nd)

It Must Have Been Love

He heard it when he climbed a tree—

sliding down the branches, hugging the leaves,

tumbling to the ground in silence.

She tasted it when she bit into an apple—

juice dripping down her chin,

ripe with the sweetness of yesterday.

He saw it when he turned the corner—

running down the street,

a breath out of focus.

She smelled it when the wind whipped through her hair—

the salty ocean spray

flipping like a seal through her curls.

They reached out to touch it—
cunning and illusive—but caught in the act.
It must have been love.

Vessel #64—Once         Wood,   55" x 69" x 46"

Vessel #64—Once (Detail View)

Bird Songs (for the New Year)

I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing than to teach ten thousand stars how not to dance.  —E.E.Cummings

It’s a new year…….the fires have abated, the hurricanes have been left to gestate in the oceans, the rain has finally arrived, the air has cleared, and the song of birds can be heard once again.

Bird Songs

They sing about their lives on the water. Warbling, chirping, and chatter float through the canyons and trees, waking up the morning.

As the old Gospel song proclaims, hope can be found by keeping your eye on the sparrow,

that small bird that gains strength from the flock as it belts out tunes of joy and freedom.

But what about the winter when breath stands still and frost fills the air—do they grow more feathers—do their feet freeze—are their nests caked in ice—do their songs retreat into the darkness waiting for the Earth to tilt closer to the sun?

The answer might lie in the origin of song—simple sounds for gossip, courtship, and danger,

bringing order to random cacophony, harmony to the orchestration of nature.

Charlie Parker, Jerry Garcia, and Mahalia Jackson conjured birds in their music, bringing notes to the scattered sounds of rapture and relief—

flight captured on keys, beaks bopping the bass. They joined the birds on the branches to record the passing winter, and the birth of better days.

Bird Song Notes: 

“Bird Song” by Jerry Garcia (for Janis Joplin)

Charlie Parker “Bird” 

(melodic lines like birdsong)

Mahalia Jackson “His Eye on the Sparrow” (Special Grammy Award 2010)