Poets Against Random Tomfoolery

August 31, 2025 — ancestor, family history, family tree, history, poetry, writing

Recently public discourse has been a great concern of mine. Some on line acquaintances have chosen to leave platforms or go dark. When one of my friends of many years announced his departure he published an excellent essay about living presence as opposed to on line activity. His words moved me but I was unhappy to lose a view of his daily life.

After consideration of his well written thoughts on privacy and awareness I decided to stay but make new use of the platform I have now. The poet who writes here is a part of my archetypal make up. It’s an artistic skill I want to develop as a tribute to my famous poet ancestor, Anne Dudley Bradstreet. I decided to channel myself into this practice in order to extract myself from the current political debate. I have not found participation in on line politics to be fruitful use of my time or energy. It seems to be a catalyst for social collapse.

I’m sticking with the idea that writing poetry is the most effective method of self care I know. It’s my current way to communicate on the internet without generating vexation. I certainly hope I become better at it, but for now it’s what I do. When I take care of dogs I sing improvisation dog songs in which my current client is the star. They often begin with so and so is a good dog, a funky good dog. They always get it and have no criticism of my work.