ON SECOND THOUGHT

10 other things to think about while thinking about Trump | november9.2024

‘SUNSET ALLEY’ | Sun going down in Huntington WV alley | november2024 | FREE SUBSCRIBE: thestoryisthething.substack.com photo

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1 | ‘SUNSET ALLEY POEM’

We will, you will, I will, they will
find the way to the light again.
Plus, art, camaraderie, love,
solidarity, mutuality,

always & ever trump monocrats,
over time, with time, in their time,
while totalitarian cosplayers crow,
believing themselves transcendent,

sempiternal, all-powerful, incontestable.
Be well, in the breach of things and
be of comfort to each other
and stalwart.

~ douglas john imbrogno

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2 | THE MATH OF IT ALL

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3 | LEAF ME ALONE

Go find a leaf that speaks to you …

‘STILL LIFE WITH LEMONY GROUNDFALL’ | Barboursville City Park, WV | november2024 | thestoryisthething.substack.com photo

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4 | HAND ME THAT

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5 | TO YOUR NAMASTATIONS

‘GOT YOGA?” | TARGET store, Huntington WV | november2024 | thestoryisthething.substack.com photo

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Get out of that hot-head, into the body.
The in-breath, the out-breath,
the in-breath, the out …
guide us off-ramp to
tranquil country roads from
the roaring, racing autobahn, where
fretting, distressing, spiraling thinking
blinds the inner eye to this right-now moment.

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6 | WHAT MERTON SAID

‘It not dark yet | But it’s gettin’ there …‘

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7 | YOUR DEATH BREATH

You’ll be out of commission on your dying bed,
one day. Possibly sooner rather than later than you
may like, you people, now, with the power to immiserate
millions of other people, minding their own lives.
What will your thoughts, your memories, throw
up onto the final cinerama of your last
breaths before lights out?

‘WHEN ALL IS SAID & DONE’ | Mound Hill Cemetery, Gallipolis, Ohio | april2024 | thestoryisthething.substack.com photo

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8 | IT’S A CLOSE THING

Random, oddly uplifting quotation from 700 years ago, partly addressing the conundrum and dire challenge of living within ‘Trump Nation,’ courtesy of 14th century Persian poet and mystic Hafiz.

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9 | ONE KIND THING

What it’s possible say to one another the day after your country falls apart, courtesy of Susan Werner, one of the land’s most sublime songwriters and alternatively profound-and-funny performers, on the morning after one of the un-funniest days in American history.

Screenshot

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10 | CALLING ON COURAGE

The inspirational Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh knew a few things about things. He gets the final word. PS: Here’s what he was like in person deep in the West Virginia hills.