• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

To the privileged, equality seems like oppression.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

Democracy is not a spectator sport.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

“A king is only a king if we bow down.” – Rev. William Barber

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Is trump is trying to break black America over his knee? signs point to ‘yes’.

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Mobile Menu

  • 4 Directions VA 2025 Raffle
  • 2025 Activism
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Open Threads / A Poem for February 2nd (Open Thread)

A Poem for February 2nd (Open Thread)

by WaterGirl|  February 2, 202210:30 pm| 22 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Talk About Whatever You Want

FacebookTweetEmail

An open thread for folks who may not be interested in the Adam Schiff Book Club thread this evening.

The perfect start?  A Groundhog Day poem written by our Balloon Juice poet laureate, SiubhanDuinne!

A POEM FOR FEBRUARY 2nd

Groundhog Groundhog, soft and grey,
In the first hours of this day,
Herald of an early Spring
Or p’r’aps of Winter’s lingering.

May I stroke your lovely fur, O
Groundhog snoozing in your burrow?
Might I learn the way you reason
As you call the coming season?

Speak, encyclopædia!
Go on mainstream media!
On every network morning show,
Say which way the wind doth blow!

Will you face the avid panel:
People from The Weather Channel?
Shall you finally see your shadow?
Be a guest on Rachel Maddow?

Imbolc, Candlemas, St Brigid,
Guide us through the season frigid.
Ancient fear of darkness wanes
As each day gentle sunlight gains.

Groundhog Groundhog, soft and grey,
Lead us through the looming day.
Take away our fear and sorrow —
Then do it all again tomorrow.

Am I crazy, or is this one of her best ever?  Thank you for sharing these with us, SD!

Open thread.

Update: This post didn’t go up as scheduled so it got lost in the shuffle.  Re-upping for later this evening.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: «Acts Of Kindness: The Littlest Ones 1 Acts Of Kindness: The Littlest Ones, Snow Fun And Ducks!
Next Post: Good Government In Action »

Reader Interactions

22Comments

  1. 1.

    Spanky

    February 2, 2022 at 8:08 pm

    No post should be without a comment.

    So here it is.

  2. 2.

    lowtechcyclist

    February 2, 2022 at 8:12 pm

    And I grabbed the coveted #2 spot. Calvert County in the top two spots!

    ETA: Great poem, Subaru Diane!  Especially with that nice little twist in the last line.

  3. 3.

    Darby'sMom

    February 2, 2022 at 8:14 pm

    Absolutely LOVED this.  Read it through a couple of times, it was so much fun!

  4. 4.

    Subsole

    February 2, 2022 at 9:02 pm

    Just popping in to say I loved this and really appreciated her sharing it.

    Was kind of a disappointing day; this definitely picked me up.

    So, thanks, SD.

  5. 5.

    Gin & Tonic

    February 2, 2022 at 9:07 pm

    Interesting development:

    JUST IN: Germany’s media regulators have banned broadcasting of the German-language TV channel of Russian state broadcaster RT pic.twitter.com/lQdrHYEpZG
    — DW Politics (@dw_politics) February 2, 2022

  6. 6.

    WaterGirl

    February 2, 2022 at 10:39 pm

    This post missed its scheduled time and got orphaned, so trying again.  This particular poem from Subaru Diane is too good to miss.

  7. 7.

    The Dangerman

    February 2, 2022 at 10:45 pm

    Hmmmm. Deep thoughts. What happens when a Bigfooter gets Bigfooted. Bigfoot^2? Is it like the posters of what happens when you divide by zero?

    Ok, not that deep. Hmmm. Shallow thoughts. What happens…

  8. 8.

    LADave

    February 2, 2022 at 10:50 pm

    John and dear front pagers. I’m a long-time lurker. (Like, since 2007.) Balloon Juice has been a daily must-visit for me since then, multiple times a day, even though I’ve never stepped forward. Over the last year or so, so many of the posts have been essentially retweets or block quotes of somebody else’s words, or media articles. The site itself, and the view into the thoughts of John and the front pagers, has declined dramatically. I miss it. Does anyone else feel this? I will never leave, but I miss the Balloon Juice I’ve been reading for so long.

  9. 9.

    WaterGirl

    February 2, 2022 at 10:54 pm

    @The Dangerman: Did I bigfoot something or did something bigfoot this one?

  10. 10.

    Julia

    February 2, 2022 at 11:01 pm

    Thank you for this, SD!! Your work is a breath of fresh air.

  11. 11.

    Rusty

    February 2, 2022 at 11:05 pm

    I saw this earlier and I am so glad it got it’s own post.  Very worthy and beautiful.  Many thanks for sharing.

  12. 12.

    Suzanne

    February 2, 2022 at 11:30 pm

    Sooooo, due to some crazy job stuff, entertaining the idea of relocating to Philly or South Jersey suburbs. I think Philly is a pit of despair. Are any of the burbs nice?

  13. 13.

    NotMax

    February 2, 2022 at 11:41 pm

    @Suzanne

    Yes. Too many to name include pastoral pluses.

  14. 14.

    Suzanne

    February 2, 2022 at 11:46 pm

    @NotMax: I would like a decent commute, so train access, good schools, no tweekers for neighbors, proximity to Costco and Trader Joe’s. Does that narrow it?

    Last time we looked at Philly suburbs, we were not impressed. I think we would like south Jersey better.

  15. 15.

    NotMax

    February 3, 2022 at 12:17 am

    @Suzanne

    Haven’t resided there in a lo-o-ong time. Might suggest finding the map of the SEPTA rail lines and comparing where they go with your other criteria regarding proximity of amenities.

  16. 16.

    Suzanne

    February 3, 2022 at 12:21 am

    @NotMax: I also want to live around Democrats.

  17. 17.

    NotMax

    February 3, 2022 at 12:32 am

    @Suzanne

    Bit of data on south Joisey.

  18. 18.

    phdesmond

    February 3, 2022 at 12:36 am

    brilliant, Siubhan!

    did you ever read this?

    poetrynook.com/poem/dinosaur

  19. 19.

    NotMax

    February 3, 2022 at 12:53 am

    @NotMax

    Same source, which includes Philly suburban areas.

  20. 20.

    Poe Larity

    February 3, 2022 at 12:56 am

    Lovely poem.

    @LADave:

    There was once an age

    roused an acute crumudgeon

    then chirps ate his world

  21. 21.

    Yutsano

    February 3, 2022 at 1:05 am

    @Suzanne: When I was looking at jobs in Philly, I actually looked at Delaware. Still a short train ride, cost of living was decent, lower taxes overall, and still sophisticated enough to support nice amenities. Just a thought.

  22. 22.

    munira

    February 3, 2022 at 10:30 am

    This is brilliant. Love it.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

On The Road - BretH - Holiday Lights! Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond, VA.
Photo by BretH (1/21/26)

Mary Peltola Alaska Senate

Donate

Order Your Pet Calendars!

Order Calendar A

Order Calendar B

 

Recent Comments

  • debit on Thursday Morning Open Thread (Jan 22, 2026 @ 8:07am)
  • JoeyJoeJoe on Thursday Morning Open Thread (Jan 22, 2026 @ 8:03am)
  • J. on Thursday Morning Open Thread (Jan 22, 2026 @ 8:01am)
  • 🐾BillinGlendaleCA on On The Road – 🐾BillinGlendaleCA – Returning to Blue Lake (Jan 22, 2026 @ 7:58am)
  • zhena gogolia on Thursday Morning Open Thread (Jan 22, 2026 @ 7:57am)

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
On Artificial Intelligence (7-part series)

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix
Rose Judson (podcast)

Mary Peltola Alaska Senate

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Privacy Manager

Copyright © 2026 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!