April 2025 Monthly Roundup

Oh, you surprised me there, Waywards reader. I’m glad you came, though.

I can share with you a piece I wrote for commission this month:

Incarcerated workers in California organize against unjust policies and degrading conditions / Prism / 4-29-25

Also, here’s hoping you have a chance to celebrate International Workers’ Day tomorrow.

Perhaps you can try to recover the spirit of pre-industrial May Day while you’re at it?

In “The Incomplete, True, Authentic, and Wonderful History of May Day,” Peter Linebaugh wrote about those early May Day festivities.

“Trees were planted,” Linebaugh wrote in reference to the merrymaking that, during “the Woodland Epoch of History,” folks would readily partake in around this time of year. “Maypoles were erected. Dances were danced. Music was played. Drinks were drunk, and love was made. Winter was over, spring had sprung.”

May Day, Linebaugh explained, “was always a celebration of all that is free and life-giving in the world,” and he added: “Whatever else it was, it was not a time to work.”

So if you can take time off to go “a-Maying,” as they used to say, you have my blessing. You can dance around the maypole for me too, if you’d like.

Also, I must apologize for having no new finished poems to share. I wrote poetry this month, but I didn’t get a chance to bring a poem to completion. We’ll see if I can get something together for you next time.

Until then, I’ll leave you with a recent photo of my Buddy: