Friend, if you are paying attention even with just one eye open, it’s a hard hard world. My heart goes out to everyone affected by the horrible acts of war unfolding day after day in Ukraine.

For the first time ever, scientists have named a heat wave -- Zoe has devastated Spain and caused many deaths. It used to feel like climate change was the future, but now it's all too real.

The US and China are at loggerheads again, this time over Taiwan.

When we wake up to this kind of thing, it’s tempting sometimes to just pull the covers over our heads and stay in bed.

And it doesn't end... there's always something happening on either a global scale, or locally, or (sometimes more devastating still) within our own families and circles of loved ones.

But what if you have an antidote?

Bear with me here: I’m not saying that you personally are saving the world through poetry. It might be true that your short stories, and mine, won’t resolve climate change or stop the next...