April 2025
Dedicated to Art and Social Justice
New Posts Published Weekly on Mondays - New Cover Monthly
How Long Can You Hold a Lion on a Leash?
Demonstrators march in Manhattan in just one of the nationwide protests against Donald Trump and Elon Musk on Saturday.
Photo: Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images
I made this drawing, “How Long Can You Hold a Lion on a Leash?” on July 11, 2020, amidst a coagulation of several events. Covid-19 was spreading rapidly, filling hospitals across the world past capacity. In the U.S.A., shootings in Chicago, Atlanta, and Washington DC left 3 children under 12 dead, among many others killed and injured by mass shootings and gun-violence around the country. Black Lives Matter protests and marches were active across the nation.
Meanwhile, Trump held a July 4th rally at Mt. Rushmore where masking was actively discouraged. In his speech, he stated, "In our schools, our newsrooms, even our corporate boardrooms, there is a new far-left fascism that demands absolute allegiance. If you do not speak its language, perform its rituals, recite its mantras, and follow its commandments, then you will be censored, banished, blacklisted, persecuted, and punished."
But he followed this statement by saying, "...I am deploying federal law enforcement to protect our monuments, arrest the rioters, and prosecute offenders to the fullest extent of the law...Under the executive order I signed last week — pertaining to the Veterans’ Memorial Preservation and Recognition Act and other laws — people who damage or deface federal statues or monuments will get a minimum of 10 years in prison," revealing his true desire: the totalitarian domination which he had just stated was fascist and anti-American.
5 years later, we see that continues to be his desire. This drawing was made to invoke the idea that such domination can only last so long. I hope by using the Black Power fist and the image of one of the great African mammals, the lion, I invoke, in particular, the mission of the Black Lives Matter and Black Power movements. Nature will eventually break free.
Zachary Charles (they/he) is a poet who currently lives near Alki Beach, West Seattle with their partner, cat, and dog. They teach Spanish on Vashon Island. Their poetry practice consists of a few pieces: portraits, conversations, and an ongoing effort to compose 10,000 haiku. They are a member of the Cascadia Poetics Lab Youth Committee and Poetry Postcard Fest Project Board. In addition to poetry, they spend creative time on multimedia collage and paintings, and love combining visual art with language art.
Thousands of protesters marched in Portland, Ore.,
protesting President Trump's administration, April 5, 2025,
part of "Hands Off" protests taking place around the country.
Photo: Joni Auden Land/OPB
We are an artistic community that recognizes the intersectionality of all injustices
and believes that art is essential to social change and more justice.
By Lew Jones
Our new format is to publish weekly posts with a monthly cover art work. We now maintain a collection of accepted submissions available for future weekly posts. Our intent is to be able to more quickly respond to changing world events. So if something is submitted that speaks powerfully to the moment, we may publish that sooner. Please be patient. Once your submission has been accepted, we will post it sometime in the following weeks.
By Lew Jones
Accomplished
Watercolor by Michael Moreth
By Lew Jones
Boisterous
Watercolor by Michael Moreth
By Lew Jones
Easement
Watercolor by Michael Moreth
By Craig Kirchner
There is a routine, it starts with getting out of bed
and squirting the sleep from my eyes with Refresh.
I won’t bore you with the bore of the rest,
you have your own to remember.
There have been interruptions to it over the years
that usually involve an infirmity or natural disaster.
I used to play golf twice a month, practice during the week,
now arthritis in my knees makes it too hard to turn.
We had the strongest storm to ever form in the Gulf
relocate sleeping to the closet, away from the windows.
But never in 75 years has the government altered my life,
it always held up its part of the bargain. I paid taxes
and voted. It kept the roads open and the food safe,
never interfered with my daily regimen.