Vox Populi
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Kathryn Levy: At the End of the World
she keeps washing the dishes—they
have to be clean for the
dinners of tomorrow—
and watching explosions
in some distant country
as a Mama screams No and
Where is my baby? in
the rubble of another
world that has ended
—but only on TV from
8 to 9:30. —She
whispers she is tired
of watching explosions
and rubbing at the dishes
that never stay clean and
eating the dinners, trying
to make conversation,
when all that she wants
is to dream a new story—a
completely new story without
any explosions, though
she still isn’t burned
by the bombs or the Mama
who tears at her face
each night when she only
longs for a sleep. —For
sleep? It’s the end, so we
have to get up and
try to start searching
for the why? and the how? and
again and again no
answer—
Copyright 2022 Kathryn Levy
Kathryn Levy’s books include Reports (New Rivers Press, 2013). She lives in Sag Harbor, New York.
Vox Populi 
This poem ends on a dark note, and I’m so thankful for that–thank you, Michael, for posting it, and thank you, Kathryn, for writing it.
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Thanks, Jerry. I love this poem for its simple concrete presentation of an emotionally complex situation.
Michael Simms https://www.michaelsimms.info https://www.michaelsimms.info/
Author of Nightjar https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1933974435/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i2 Author of American Ash https://www.amazon.com/American-Ash-Poems-Michael-Simms/dp/1933974397/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2PC9VWO127ZSF&dchild=1&keywords=american+ash+by+michael+simms&qid=1593969710&s=books&sprefix=American+ash,aps,133&sr=1-1 Founder of Autumn House Press https://www.autumnhouse.org/?method=displayPage&pagename=home Editor of Vox Populi https://voxpopulisphere.com/
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Jerry, Thank you for appreciating the dark note the poem ends on. It might be difficult to take, but for me it was the only honest way to end the poem. And thank you, Michael, for your comments about the poem.
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Kathryn, you have captured that awful helpless state we are caught in when we are mediated witnesses to enormous violence, when our humanity is reduced to the discomfort we feel, when we would like to scream. The poem makes us stay there, where we truly are, that situation we must acknowledge and think from, searching for a way “to be of use” as Marge Piercy put it. Thank you for this poem.
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This comment means so much to me. That is the state I was trying to embody in this poem. Thank you.
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Well-said, Richard!
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Oh yes Kathryn!
So nice to see you and your thoughts so deservedly in print here!
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Thanks, Sean. I love Kathryn’s work as well.
Michael Simms https://www.michaelsimms.info https://www.michaelsimms.info/
Author of Nightjar https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1933974435/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i2 Author of American Ash https://www.amazon.com/American-Ash-Poems-Michael-Simms/dp/1933974397/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2PC9VWO127ZSF&dchild=1&keywords=american+ash+by+michael+simms&qid=1593969710&s=books&sprefix=American+ash,aps,133&sr=1-1 Founder of Autumn House Press https://www.autumnhouse.org/?method=displayPage&pagename=home Editor of Vox Populi https://voxpopulisphere.com/
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Thanks, Sean!
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