Kahlil Gibran: War
One night a feast was held in the palace, and there came a man and prostrated himself before the prince, and all the feasters looked upon him; and they saw that one of his eyes was out and that the empty socket bled.
Barbara Hamby: Hatred
Abracadabra, says Mephisto, the fire fly
buddha of Rue Morgue, and the whole wide world
changes from a stumbling rick-rack machine
doing the rag time, the bag time, the I’m-on-the
edge-of-a-drag time to a tornado of unmitigated
fury.
George Yancy: How Should We Rethink Our Relationship to US Violence Around the World?
Democracy-destroying forces thrive off militarism. We have to resist both. A conversation with Norman Solomon.
Abby Zimet: These Little Men | An Everlasting Shame For America
The attempted ritual humiliation of Zelensky came as Ukraine, a small struggling democracy of 38 million people, is ravaged by a nation of 144 million led by a gangster.
Kathleen O’Toole: A dimmer hope
First crack of crimson
in the January morning sky
engenders such an ache, not
only for the sun’s escape
from cloud block, but ours
from winter’s grip.
Laure-Anne Bosselaar: The Worlds in this World
Elsewhere, somewhere, a tide recedes,
incense is lit, an infant sucks from a nipple,
a grenade shrieks, a man buys his first cane.
Ed Harkness: Transplanting Tomatoes Amid the Rubble of a Bombed School
I’ll plant Tamatim here
as an experiment
to treat the wounded ground,
Emily Suzanne Carlson: Motherhood
I want
the officers to hang their shields
like wind chimes from the plum tree’s
branches.
Kim Stafford: How to make money
Sell munitions to nations at war. Sell relief supplies
for distribution at war. Fly diplomats around to talk
about war. Pay speech-writers to equivocate about war.
A Teacher in NYC Tells the Children, “Look for the Helpers”
We all must demand a ceasefire now. Our witnessing and demanding change is how we can all be helpers for all children.
Pascale Petit: I asked if I could leave the earth
There was a word for what was wrong with me
but no word for the troubles on earth.
Judith R. Robinson: Black Scar
oh Danny boy
who is no more
he whom I loved
Abby Zimet: In What Is Called A War (Trigger Warning — graphic violence)
Over 420 children a day are killed or injured, roughly one every 10 minutes; over 2,000 children are missing under the rubble, and likely dead; 70% of the dead are children and women…
Carlene M. Gadapee: Give Peace a Chance
The Burning World by Sherod Santos is a complicated and arresting mytho-historical and contemporary narrative demonstrating the pain of war and conflict.
