I took the photo described by the haiku with my phone right after mowing. That fruit was gone when I went out with my camera on the next day, but more were coming:
No, wait. Look up toward the sky.
A large elm in Boston became known as the “Liberty Tree” because patriots often gathered there, from 1765 until loyalists cut it down in 1775.
The yard sign displayed in my post regarding No Kings 3.0 elicited two prompt and insightful comments (acknowledged at the end of this post). As my earlier post noted, I was uneasy about the sign’s assertion that fascism is “un-American” when far too many Americans are fascists or their enablers. In one important sense of the word [un-American], however, the sign’s assertion is still true and still worth declaring with fierce simplicity on Memorial Day (rather than with details that cannot fit in a readable yard sign).
As was true last year, Memorial Day this year is a time to fly the flag while calling out American fascists because they desecrate the memory of those who died to defend American values against a succession of tyrannies, from taxation w/o representation to slavery to 20-th century fascism to communism to 21-st century fascism to whatever abominations may lie ahead.
The color called “lilac” in CSS is a light purple, with equal amounts of red and blue. (The buds on this bush were a magenta, with a good deal more red than blue.) Eleven days later, this bush was almost done for the year. It looked like the flowers had indeed been lilac when fully open and were fading to lavender and then white.
Snow-laden branches,
sagging under cold wet weight.
But they will rebound.
Thriving on cold air,
icicles defy hot sun
(from a safe distance).
falling when not held.
Leaves still bright grace roads and lawns;
they danced to distant wind chimes.
Robert Reich sees 2025-10-18 as a “huge success” because millions of people “who never before participated in a demonstration showed their solidarity” with the victims of DJT’s fascism and with those who oppose it. Dunno how Reich counted newbies into the millions, but the day clearly did go well, with large peaceful crowds and with American flags as well as protest signs. So much for the Rethuglican attempt to brand the events as “hate America” rallies.
My own contribution was modest. The yard sign I put up for No Kings Day 1.0 suffered from being exposed to weather from then thru Independence Day, but I refurbished it and found a stand that would let me mount it higher than before:
Another idiosyncratic way to participate was with poetry. Speaking of poetry, there’s a memorable pair of lines in America the Beautiful that always was more aspirational than actual:
Thine alabaster cities gleam,
Undimmed by human tears.
The aspiration was widely shared and was (until recently) inching toward reality. That hope and progress (not greed and cruelty) made America great. Whatever else it accomplished, No Kings Day 2.0 reminded true patriots that they are far from alone in their determination to make America great again.
Leaves still green.
Intrepid seed wings
lead the way.
Leaves drop one by one,
each with a story to tell.
But can we listen?
Mellow Curmudgeon 