by Lynne Friedman
As the Waters Rise at the Oroville Dam
Commuter train home, under Bay
engineering marvel, like a surfer
diving to find the soft roll under a wave,
deeper, less angry.
I want to reach for the stranger next to me
to squeeze his hand, to lay my head on his shoulder,
to share a tenderness.
Sharing this seat, this train, this moment in history
is no longer enough
as the waters rise at the Oroville Dam.
Metal rains on Aleppo,
an unflagging shorthand for suffering.
The Ambassador says,
“Crimes that involve bombing are
always difficult to prosecute.”
And then,
“We must build a record for a date
when there is justice.”
We sit and cry and feel the burden
of witness and inaction.
May this not be the legacy of our generation.
Executive orders, shock and awe,
raids on worksites, protests at airports,
unease is becoming unrest.
Today I paused before
a burst of plum blossom
and the soft retreat of oxalis,
a spider weaving home after storm,
and the sun’s tentative rise,
the fecund scent of wet earth drying
and the relentless splendor in the world.
Heather Bourbeau’s work has appeared or will appear in 100 Word Story, Alaska Quarterly Review, The MacGuffin, Meridian, and The Stockholm Review of Literature. She was a contributing writer to Not On Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond with Don Cheadle and John Prendergast. She has worked with various UN agencies, including the UN peacekeeping mission in Liberia and UNICEF Somalia.
Lynne Friedman’s work has been shown in solo exhibitions at the Booth Western Art Museum (GA), Galleria Nacional (Costa Rica), the James McNeil Whistler Museum and numerous solo shows in New York City including Noho Gallery and Prince Street Gallery among others in the Chelsea District of NYC. Additionally her work was selected for the U.S. Department of State Art-in-Embassies Program for Djibouti, E. Africa and Colombo, Sri Lanka. Her work is in many corporate and private collections including Pfizer, McGraw Hill, IBM, Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, Pace University, Ritz Carleton Hotels and City National Bank. She has received seven artist residency grants to work in Spain, Costa Rica, Ireland, Southern France and New Mexico. She received a BA and MFA in Art from Queens College, an Ed.D. from Columbia University and studied at the New York Studio School. Previously a college art teacher she now works full time painting.