What Axes Are Good For

What Axes Are Good For

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is murdering unguarded presidents
of countries you were not born in.
This is a reminder that I was not born
here or at all I stumbled into this limp
living like a glue trap & since then
I’ve dragged what remains of my torso
behind me like a soiled bridal train.

When my parents got married
the crowd flung axes instead of rice.
After the divorce they spent their last
night together unsheathing the rusty
blades that had since scabbed over
from each other’s backs. Once upon
a time I was small & would fold
my single stolen skirt into the soft
shape of an axe, then hide it under
my bed. All known futures & models
of physics agree that loving anything
forever is difficult: your husband
whines about dinner, the winters last
too long to care about the miracle
of snow, & by the time you spot
your senator in the grocery store
you’ve already started stripping
off your clothes. Axes it’s said last
longest when kept under your pillow
they guard your brain the president
of your body & I was not born I was
numbed into boyhood by some dumb
government of no mothers

like the woodsman whose dark-haired
god stuck thumbs in his belt loops
& forged a new commandment
about reading & the sea next winter
so the woodsman took from the bed
his prizewinning axe & hacked
the ice from his skull.

We cannot back down

We now confront a second Trump presidency.

There’s not a moment to lose. We must harness our fears, our grief, and yes, our anger, to resist the dangerous policies Donald Trump will unleash on our country. We rededicate ourselves to our role as journalists and writers of principle and conscience.

Today, we also steel ourselves for the fight ahead. It will demand a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis, and humane resistance. We face the enactment of Project 2025, a far-right supreme court, political authoritarianism, increasing inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis, and conflicts abroad. The Nation will expose and propose, nurture investigative reporting, and stand together as a community to keep hope and possibility alive. The Nation’s work will continue—as it has in good and not-so-good times—to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and deep reporting, and to further solidarity in a nation divided.

Armed with a remarkable 160 years of bold, independent journalism, our mandate today remains the same as when abolitionists first founded The Nation—to uphold the principles of democracy and freedom, serve as a beacon through the darkest days of resistance, and to envision and struggle for a brighter future.

The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

I urge you to stand with The Nation and donate today.

Onwards,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

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