January 4 – “Arms”. Many Thanks to  Cheryl for today’s prompt, as we take a moment or two each day this month to reflect on words that come from the community. And thanks to Linda G Hill for getting us organized!

###

I wake up in heavy darkness this morning to what sounds like airplanes flying low in the sky. Steady drone in multivoice, for what seems like a long time. Swimming upwards out of sleep, I remember the old munitions site a few miles away, and that this thought crosses the deeper pools of my consciousness whenever the U.S. is mired in things that they shouldn’t. Or shouldn’t be, in the way that we do. The old munitions plant, long dismantled, but still haunted, and undeveloped into something more hopeful, is a few miles and a quarter of a century away.

We are fortunate, surrounded by land and municipalities in the center of our expanse of green and civilization, these days blanketed in heavy snow that has pummeled the rest of the nation in cold, and flooding where it’s not so. We feel safe watching the rest of the world on our TV screens, tablets, and cellphones. Detachment is just a swipe away, a couple of clicks to find a streaming service that has romantic comedies and vampire dramas.

But what’s to keep those other countries from taking arms against a sea of capitalist bullshit and striking back?

So I wake in the darkness, swim to the surface, and wonder at what I’m hearing. Reach for the cat, snugged against my backside and still and cool on this winter’s night, and realize I wouldn’t know what to do if it was a plane intent on retribution.

© Liz Husebye Hartmann (2026)  

To read others’ responses or join in yourself, please visit:  https://lindaghill.com/2026/01/04/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-4th-2026/