Natalie Eilbert, by User 4357

Natalie Eilbert, by User 4357

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There’s there there. A sweet empty
vacuum bag smells of industry,
its provenance. I try a xylophone
note, a sound like burnt yellow.
Approximations don’t
mimic; they stand
in a room
full of doors. My legs
are hungry for money,
hang over a man’s ribs.
I argue I am trying to be myself
when I sever a cucumber. Each
object presents its presiding objects.
An elbow grinds
into a caramelizing thigh bruise.
I remove an article, an
article too particular to understand.
A kitten sleeps, shaped
as a pair of slumped lungs.
I must laugh at my brain fog,
seran wrap over my eyes.
Is authorship anything? I am a
single combination of cells,
dander under a god nail,
duplicating. I press my thumb
to my femoral nerve until
a white light blinks myself open.
You enter me, a door
warped. In the crease, there.

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.”

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Onwards,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

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