Peace by Peace

(1)
When a moral compass
spins like a roulette wheel,
someone is betting
on someone’s life.
Or on someone’s death.

(2)
If one death matters more,
if one life matters less:
is the problem, the framing?
is the problem, the thinking?
is the problem, the very beginning?

(3)
Behold the ugliness of
civilization, disfigured
by war. This is the measure
of failed humanity.
Of humanity.

(4)
What is freedom?
Are you free?
Are you free enough
to tolerate
another’s freedom?

(5)
Do words offend you?
Is one version of truth
different from another?
Then, are there two truths?
Then, are there many truths?

(6)
Whose corner are you in,
they ask? It is a round earth,
there are no corners to
hide in. The arc of horror
circles back to the beginning.

(7)
We keep counting the dead
as if our hearts are waiting
to break at a particular number.
Didn’t that happen in the very first
war, after the very first killing?

(8)
How do you explain
war and death to a child who has 
barely understood life? How do
you explain to the child’s mother?
How do you explain to yourself?

(9)
What is time when you
wait for death to rain down
from heaven? A moment is as
long as eternity. All eternity
is vanquished in a moment.

(10)
Then there were four cats
killed beside the men.
Cats don’t have words
in their language to
explain this cause of death.

(11)
Don’t say peace when you mean
power, liberation when you mean
profit. Don’t say we when you
mean I. It is always on you,
in your own name.

(12)
This is the human story.
Repression and war,
exploitation and brutality.
Still we say we are shocked.
Still we say we are surprised.

(13)
Say it. 
Say it louder. LOUDER.
Silence
is the loudest
cheerleader.

#Poetry

Written on 16 Oct 2023 during another war, after ‘Thirteen ways of looking at a blackbird’ by Wallace Stevens.