IN UKRAINE: POEMS

abstract drawing with color

“Try to look. Just try and see.” —Charlotte Delbo

Beau Beausoleil is a poet and activist who has written this series of poems in response to the unprovoked, immoral, and illegal war on Ukraine launched by Vladimir Putin and maintained by those who fear him. Beausoleil sees little difference between this colonialist invasion and the invasion of Iraq by President Bush. While civilians in Iraq and Ukraine are killed with a cruel casual indifference, the perpetrators receive laurels in place of the shame they deserve.

Beausoleil writes in the spirit of the dancer/choreographer Pina Bausch: “Dance, dance, otherwise we are lost!” His poems are written in the spirit of Charlotte Delbo, the WWII French Resistance fighter and survivor of Auschwitz who wrote, “Try to look. Just try and see.” He has written this series of poems for Ukraine because he is a poet, and this is what poets do. He believes that during troubled times poetry can protect the imagination of an entire country.

Here is a link to Beau’s reading on May 5, 2022 at Bird & Beckett Books in San Francisco of some of these poems: https://www.facebook.com/bird.and.beckett/videos/565125975006866

We are seeking a publisher for a selection of these poems in book form. Contact overlandbooks@earthlink.net.

Beau’s poems stand in witness to some of the most immoral acts of our time. In addition to IN UKRAINE: POEMS, two other series appear in the MPP Digital Poetry Series: War News and Poems for George Floyd. In 2019, Moving Parts Press published a letterpress edition of Beau’s book, The Long Distance.

Find more from the MPP Digital Poetry Series here.


 

In 
Ukraine

Birds
have
begun
to
sing
to
tanks
trying
to
coax
them
back
into
their
heart
less
nests

While
at a
nearby
table
the
tyrant
salts
his
eggs
with
blood

February 22, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

Your heart
as always
labors to
move you
back
to when
there was
peace
but finds
no way
to shift
the
bloody
landscape
wrapping
itself
around
your
country

except
in your
absent
dreams

February 25, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

Ordinary
people
are
in
the
street
throwing
words
at Death
who rides
a Russian
tank

These
people
may
die
but
not
before
they
keep
living
in
their
country
that 
continues
to sing
as it

weeps

February 25, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

Instead of
suddenly
having to
leave
their country
with their
mothers
holding
them closer
than ever
before

Instead
of dying
under an
incoming
missile or
a stray
bullet

These
children
only wish
for the

normal

sounds

of night

And a
chance
the next
morning
to go out
and play

February 28, 2022


 

Some Of
Putin’s
Reasons

1.
Ukraine
has for
generations
blocked
sunlight
that historically
belongs to

Russia

2.
Ukrainian
automobiles
have been
parked at
angles that
Russia
rightly
considers
threatening

3.
Ukrainian
poets
have
repeatedly

written
poems

that include
images of the
moon which
as it is
well known
belongs by
patriotic
state
decree
to Russia

4.
Despite
being given
more than
enough
irrational
Soviet
reasons
to admit
defeat
the Ukrainians
continue to
resist

February 28, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

The
bodies
of those
being
killed
in their
everyday
landscape
were not
usually
to be
found
in the
company
of their
grandchildren

but that
has changed

March 1, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

You
must
be
tired
of
God
weeping
in your
doorways

You must
be tired
of waiting
for the
avenging
Angels
of love

You must
be tired
on each
forsaken
night
to have
to fight
using
only
your
own
lullaby
song
to calm
your
children
and keep
at bay
the mortal
wounds
that now
surround
you

March 2, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

One
doesn’t
need
a news
feed
in the
Ukraine
one can
read the
news
on the
body
parts
strewn
about
in the
rubble
of its
cities

And one
can watch
the nightly
news
in the
eyes
of their
terrified
children
whose
gaze
holds
all the
terror
that we
cannot
bear 
to read
about

March 3, 2022


 

Vladimir
Putin

If you
felt
an angel
softly
stroke
your
face

if the
one
who
still
beats
you
in your
dreams
went
away

if the
only
one
who
loved
you
was
still
here

If the
clouds
came
apart
and the

hidden

light
filled
your
empty
heart

if God
sang
the

letters
of your
name
so that
you
could
finally
feel safe
and fall
asleep

If you
could
actually
see the
blood
on your
hands

Would you
stop the
killing
now
and not
be so
afraid
of Russia
weeping
for what
you have
done

March 4, 2022

 


 

Here

Pushing
the slices
of bread
down
into the
toaster

watching
the sunlight
open the
garden

steaming
coffee in
my red
cup

smoothing
the sour cherry
jam across
the toast
listening
hard to
the fragments
of suffering
on the radio

Later
stepping off
the curb
with my
cane
I look
up

Buying
a latte
and roll
and then
driving to
Rainbow
Grocery

coming
back
up the
stairs
to our
house

looking up
again
at the
shadow
clouds

I cannot
hear any
tanks
coming
up the
street
there
are no
missiles
falling
out of 
the sky
to kill
us

March 5, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

In her
pocket
maybe
a piece
of string
and an
interesting
looking
pebble
maybe
a signed
school
permission
slip
to visit
the museum

What was
in her
body
now
were
hundreds
of pieces
of jagged
metal

One of
those
shards
she might
have liked
for its
odd
shape
and
maybe
without
the war
she might
have
picked
it up
and
put it
in her
other
pocket

March 7, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

Russian
artillery
units
have
changed
their
coordinates
to exclusively
target
civilians
who by
hiding
or fleeing
or resisting
are prolonging
the war and
their own
suffering
and necessary
death

The
murder
of children
and the
elderly
the death
of mothers
and pregnant
women
is part
of the
unwavering
patriotic
goal of
Putin’s
war to
prevent
genocide

March 10, 2022


 

Putin’s Speech
To His Troops

You are only
dead for
as long
as you
are alive
and you
are only
alive
for as
long as
you accept
your imminent
violent death

March 12, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

Let me
take
breath
after
breath

for your
country’s
dead
let me
not turn
away
as your
cities
fall down
below my
backyard

Lie down
I will not
wake you
until all
the small
birds have
fallen
dead
from the
burning
trees

Your
family
will
come
back

your
hands
will
one
day
stop
shaking

You will
never read
these words
but they
carry
a wish
that you
stay alive
as best
you can

March 12, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

Do you
still write
letters
on the
back of
your poems

Can you
still recite
all the
streets
between
your place
and the
bookstore
even though
they both
no longer
exist

If tears were
the currency
of the dead
you would be
rich beyond
measure

March 16, 2022

 


 

In
Ukraine

War first
subtracts
colors and
then isolates
them

A child’s
shoe can be
shockingly yellow
when gathered
up and placed
alongside her
pale quiet body

March 16, 2022

 


 

In
Ukraine

I can’t
see
words
in my
poems
anymore
only
lines
of the
dead
and
dying
falling
down
the

page

March 16, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

1.
How does
one run
when
there are
no safe
directions
left to run
towards

2.
My radio
is asking
who do
I think
will win
for best
picture
at the
Academy
Awards

3.
Maybe
the
way to
flee is
to walk
only under
that part
of the
blue sky
that has
not been
torn away
by Russia
as it fills
your country
with blood

March 17, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

You
described
(standing in
your debris
filled kitchen)
how it was
morning and
you were
making
a cup of
coffee
in this
very same
kitchen
when the
missile
exploded
down in
the street
below
and then
your windows
blew into
shards
and cut
your
upper
body and
blood
was streaming
down your
face and
your son
(who was
on the
other side
of the
kitchen)
shouted
in terror
ARE YOU
DEAD

and you
shouted
back
NO
and yelled
at
him to
run to the
shelter

Your voice
now was
shaking with
anger

and you

wanted to
show the
camera (all
of us here)
your wounds

so angry that
the Russians
were targeting
civilians (you and
your son)

One of the
camera crew
bandaged
a deep cut
on your arm

and later
on your
stairwell
you held up
a fist to
the camera
in continued
defiance to
those who
would make
your
apartment’s
kitchen
(and your son’s
life and your
life)
a blood-soaked
battleground

March 18, 2022


 

A Reply
To The Pope
Asking For
Peace
In God’s
Name

First we
worshiped
the Great
Mother
then
(with
the rise of
Patriarchy)
Gods
that
often
wanted
our blood
then a God
of peace
(under whose
banner we
continued
to kill)
and now
we have
a tyrant
whose
death
grip on
the throats
of the
innocent
disfigures
all of
our prayers
for peace

March 13, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

You don’t
have to
tell me
anything
It’s written
all over
your face

You’ve
lost most
of what
tied you

to your

sense of
reality

You don’t
have to
tell me
what
happened
I can
see it
under the
new snow
drifting
along
the rubble
settling
upon the
bodies
in the
mass graves

March 13, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

Putin has ordered
that everything
everything
EVERYTHING
be destroyed
that might
resist
(including
inanimate
objects)
his Patriotic
War of
Terror
Murder
and
Subjugation

He expects
and demands
that Ukraine
demilitarize
and denazify
all existing
Arts Organizations
Libraries
Bookstores

and Children’s
Playgrounds

March 19, 2022


 

One
Ukrainian
Soldier

You are
fighting
on one
of the
roads that
lead to
Kyiv

We understand
completely
that you are
fighting to keep
Ukraine Free

But only
you know
that you
are also
fighting
to keep
hold of
one day in
the autumn
before the
War

You were
on your
way home

and stopped
to watch
a sudden
strong wind
moving
the fallen
leaves together

on this
very same
road

March 20, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

Putin wants
the notion
of time
to end
and he

demands
the complete
erasure
of  any hope
contained
in the word
“tomorrow”

In its place
he wants
one expanding
moment
of unending
terror
infinite
in its
territory
of murder
and fear

March 22, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

Someone
is writing
to me
in another
invisible ink

I can’t
read the
words but
I can hear
the deep
weeping
even before
I open the
crumpled
envelope

March 22, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

The
Russian
soldiers
have
turned
into
small

birds
who
cannot
sing

And
the
missiles
and shells
have
turned
into the
limbs
of trees
struck
by winter
light

Maybe after
all of this
the sudden
painful dead
will not
call back
to us
without 
mercy

March 23, 2022


 

At Stow
Lake

Beauty is
the last
thing to
leave us
alone

It’s easier
for me
to spread
the news
paper
out on
the
picnic
table
by the
lake
and
read
about
the
absolute
horror
and
suffering

than to
be there

March 24, 2022


 

Ukrainian
Childhood

Knowing
the alphabet
versus
being buried
under your
classroom

Knowing the
best place
to go
sledding
versus
being killed
on the road

Wrapping
your arms
around
your mother’s
waist as
she cries
versus
the gunfire
and explosions

around you

March 24, 2022


 

Ukrainian
Days

They
keep
coming
through
my radio
often
crying
and
shouting
at the
same
time

Each is
carrying
a body
of sorrow
wrapped in
a shroud
of blood

Your
kitchen
is so
quiet
in the
early
morning
they say

we thought
to stop
here on
our way
home

March 25, 2022


 

In
Solidarity

I want
to insert
blank
spaces
into this
poem
(here I
will be

silent
and hold
up a
blank page)

This in
solidarity
with the
Russian
demonstrators
who are being
arrested
for holding
up blank signs
in public
spaces
(here I
will hold
up a
blank page
again)

I want
my blank
poem
to protest
the War
in Ukraine
as their
blank signs
so loudly do

March 26, 2022


 

A Choir
Sings
To Putin

You can’t
kill children
enough times
to impersonate
their bodies
on the broken
sidewalks
of their
destroyed
cities

They will never
wave the small
Russian flags
that you tie to
each of their
ruined lifeless
hands

March 27, 2022


 

For The
Poets
Of Ukraine

Now that
we see the
morning
sunlight
move onto
one edge
of a stand
of gathering
trees
we know
that you
are not
dead but
falling to
your knees
overwhelmed
once more
by simple
unexpected
beauty

March 28, 2022


 

Peace In
Our Time

There was
no movement
towards peace
reported today
at the 3,000th
meeting of
negotiators
as all the
Ukrainian
participants
have so far
been
bombed
poisoned
or strangled
in their 
chairs

The Russians
continue to
deny any
responsibility
for their
murderous
acts of
aggression
and now wait
impatiently
in the rubble
for the next
generation
of Ukrainian
survivors
to send more
representatives
to the table

March 30, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

All the
good
days
are
still
inside
you
and
will
come
back
gradually
as do
song
birds
after
any
chaotic
upending
deadly
storm

that
never
seems
to
end

Stay
safe
until

then

March 30, 2022


 

War

War
recreates
itself each
day from
the sky
down to
the ground

But the dead
remain dead
as they do not
wish to die
like this again

April 1, 2022


 

Morning
Routine

Each
morning
Putin
swims
in an
ever
expanding
ocean
of blood
and
emerges
refreshed
under the
shadows of
missiles
flying
towards
Ukraine

Each morning
he rises
from his
bloodied
breakfast
table
with
small bits
of flesh
still lodged
between

his teeth

April 2, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

The
BBC
video
shows
the cars
as twisted
metal
shot up
by a
Russian
tank
on the
highway
the camera
showing
the dead
(with
their
faces
deliberately
blurred)
on the
side
of the
road
and the
dead
on the
road itself

bodies
later
thrown
onto
each
other
half
burned
alone
side by
side and
entangled

The camera
looking for
brief solace
shows the
trees

At this
distance
the trees
look close
enough
to this
anguished
scene
to offer
only us
imagined
comfort

These trees
suddenly
close enough
for us to
hear the
mournful
wailing
of their
silence

April 3, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

It must
have taken
a good bit
of time
to tie
the hands
of civilians
behind
their backs
before you
shot them
in the head

it must
have been
tiring and
you were
soon to
leave
and that’s
why you
began
to simply
shoot
these older
Ukrainians
whenever
you
encountered
them in
the streets
or where
their voices
could still
be heard
above the
shelling

You had
taught
yourself
to shoot
anyone with
their hands up
anyone who
reminded you
of the
sickness
you had
brought to
these days

As always
no one really
praised your
hard work

No one really
understood how
necessary it was
to kill the
defenseless
who might
one day
remember you

except Putin

April 3, 2022


 

A Single
Moment
Of Horror
Extended
Into Empty
Words

The body
of a man

found
executed
in the
jumbled
war debris
filled road

wearing
a jacket
and an old
sweater
to protect
himself from
the cold

his muddy
bicycle
on the
ground
nearby

A bullet
in the
back
of his
head

April 4, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

These
bodies
in their
violent
death
are
turned
like
irregular
furrows in
a field of
streets and
backyards

These
bodies
wait with
a patience
that we
are not
capable of

they refuse
their own
graves until
someone
recognizes
who they are
and explains
to them
how this
came to be

April 5, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

The moon
seems so
fragile with
the weight
of grief

I have
to turn
from its
scarred
eye just
to look
at you

let me untie
your hands

I want to
write the path
that will take
you home

April 6, 2022


 

A Partial List
Of Where Putin
Finds Civilians
To Kill

In or out
of a car
an apartment
a house
a basement
a backyard
a school
a theater
a store
a street
a path
a road
a highway
riding a
bicycle
or walking
home

How did
a maternity clinic
make its way
onto this list

And now
a train station
full of ordinary
people trying
desperately
to leave the
killing zone

Has this
tyrant so
corrupted
life as to
make death
his most
sought after
companion

April 8, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

How much suffering
has been created
and remembered

Is it as much
as in Iraq
and Syria

How many hours
of each day will
now be devoted
to the repeated
unfolding
of a single moment
of unbearable grief

April 10, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

Statistically
civilians are
being killed
every day
in Ukraine

But statistics
fall away at
the sight of
these very
public/private
murders

Every civilian
murdered in
Ukraine was
someone
who had
the same
complex
engagement
with the world
as we do

And on each
statistical day
civilians will
continue to be

murdered
with a specific
brutal
randomness
that no number
can represent or
hold to a page

April 11, 2022


 

All The
Killing
Resumes
Tomorrow

I lie down
and wait
for your
spilled
blood
to wash
through
the time 
difference

Each morning
I show up
on the page
with some
words
that hardly
know me

All along
the roads
the bodies
of people
seem to
be thrown
away

And unless
you are
already
dead
you need to
understand
that it is
precisely
your
innocence
that makes
you a target

April 12, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

The evidence
of living is
to be taken
blindfolded
hands tied
out into
your own
backyard
and shot
in the head

Who
are these
callous
armed
young men
to not even
allow you
a glimpse
of the sky
that you
had lived
under for
all these
years

April 14, 2022


 

Nature
As An
Enemy

In a
new
campaign
Putin
is waging
war on
field mice
who have
bitten his
ankles
to the
bone and
despite
his bloody
carnage
stubbornly
refuse to kneel
in subservience

And he has
issued orders
to murder
one by one
all backyard
songbirds
who do not
spontaneously
sing together
a praise song
for him

April 16, 2022


 

An
Interpreter
Of Streets

We see
the war
debris
of dying
in almost
every
photo
graph

We imagine
ourselves
far away

But in truth
some part
of our
most quiet
thinking
now sees
how close
these 
streets
actually
are

April 17, 2022


 

On The
Four
Winds

Mass killings
have a kind
of perpetual
motion built
into them

One stands
shoulder deep
in the grave
and passes
the shovel
on to
another

18 April, 2022


 

Poets
At
War

Poets
protect
the
invisible
from the
visible

They
claim
no sacred
ground
beyond
the page

If they
stop
writing
there
will
be no
measure
of time
long
enough
to find
our way
out of
this
ravaging
consuming
darkness

18 April, 2022


 

Poets
At
War

Poets
protect
the
invisible
from the
visible

They
claim
no sacred
ground
beyond
the page

If they
stop
writing
there
will
be no
measure
of time
long
enough
to find
our way
out of
this
ravaging
consuming
darkness

20 April, 2022


 

Victory

Putin
declares
victory
to any
of the
dead
still
listening

21 April, 2022


 

Russian
Military
Tactics

1.
Kill the
innocent
civilians
at your
leisure

they are
easily
identified
by their
lack of
weapons
and the
way they
raise their
hands above
their head

(as if
expecting
some kind
of mercy)

2.
Always dig
the mass graves
deeper than you
planned for

22 April, 2022


 

Mariupol

Putin is
choking
on a
single
Ukrainian
fly that
has flown
into his
open
bloody
mouth

22 April, 2022


 

On Earth Day
In Ukraine

Everything holy
knows how to
find us in nature

Even mountains
need to sleep
and breathe
the earth

And now the forests
as part of their
constant journey
to the sky
have paused and
sent out their
most tender roots
to the mass graves
to  comfort
and cradle the
anguished dead

23 April, 2022


 

Mariupol

I can only
imagine the
cacophony
of Hell but
it must sound
something
like the
Russian
shelling
of  where
you are
underground
in the Azovstal
steel plant

And here
I open
my words
to the
hammering
sound
of roofers
working
two houses
away and
the splendid
light
from the
same sun
that has
left you
in darkness

Some
mornings
my heart
wants
to stop
listening
to my
conscious
thoughts

Some
evenings
my poems
struggle to
stay silent
while I read
the reports
of the
mass graves

25 April, 2022


 

False Flag

Putin wraps
himself in a
false flag
each day
much as
my own
presidents
did in
the Gulf
of Tonkin
to enter
Vietnam
in force
and at
the U.N.
to justify
invading
Iraq

Who are
these men
who always
want revenge
for their
own sins

26 April, 2022


 

Bucha

I imagine
that those
people
were shot
quickly
almost
casually
but their
bodies
were
found
slowly
taking
up a
certain
amount
of space
on the
map of
time that
each was
carrying
in their
eyes
while
trying to
find a way
out or
back
through
the day

I imagine
they were
hoping
not to be
seen though
unarmed
as a threat
to those
with the
guns

29 April, 2022


 

Peace In
Our Time

There was
no movement
towards peace
reported today
at the 3,000th
meeting of
negotiators
as all the
Ukrainian
participants
have so far
been
bombed
poisoned
or strangled
in their
chairs

The Russians
continue to
to deny any
responsibility
for their
murderous
acts of
aggression
and now wait
impatiently
in the rubble
for the next
generation
of Ukrainian
survivors
to send more
representatives
to the table

30 April, 2022


 

Poets At The
Negotiating
Table

They want
the invading
country
to demand
the surrender
of its own
hatred

They want
city streets
to be filled
with unsparing
beauty

They  want
those
imprisoned
by flags
to be
set free

They want
children’s
playground
voices
to once
again
endanger
peace and
quiet

They want
a country
of ordinary
joy and
misfortune

2 May, 2022


 

Invisible
City

The deepest
wounds are
borne by those
who survive
but still
carry the
murder
of their
loved one
into every
waking hour
under every
blue sky

3 May, 2022


 

What Can
Be Seen
From Far
Away

The
older
woman
with a
look of
disbelief
on her
face
as if what
she had
been through
maybe really
didn’t happen
to her but
to someone
else

And in the
midst of
her painful
retelling
to the camera
(to us)
she suddenly
began to weep
and I felt
my own
tears fall
over what
she has
endured

And I knew
how useless
I was

And the
8 year
old on
the sidewalk
with her
mother
telling
the camera
that she
is not
afraid
saying that
she is the
oldest
and so she
cannot be
afraid
and then
shells
start to
fall
somewhere
in the near
distance
and I see
her flinch
and then
gather herself
to look at
the camera
saying
again
that she is
not afraid

And even
as I write this
I am still
afraid for her
and her
family

5 May, 2022


Mother’s
Day In
Ukraine
The weeping
exhausted
Ukrainian
grandmother
is the
weeping
exhausted
grandmother
in Iraq
or the
weeping
exhausted
Syrian
grandmother
or the
weeping
exhausted
Palestinian
grandmother
or the weeping
exhausted
grandmother
in Yemen or
Afghanistan
All want
to end
the wars
created by
men
All want
to find
the bodies
of their
children
All breathe
the same
tangled air
of love and

grief

7 May, 2022


 

All in together, girls.
How do you like the weather, girls?
January, February, March, April . . .

Double
Dutch
jump
rope
can keep
the worst
day
one block
away
unable
to reach
you
unable
to harm
you
like it
wants to

The rope
skipping
under
your
rising
feet

You
cant
hear
anyone
crying or
hear the
next day
exploding
because
you
are
flying
over
the
jump
rope
sky

9 May, 2022


 

Russia’s
Special
Operations
Forces

Your job
is killing
not
thinking
Your enemy
is everyone
whether
young or
old

When
they
find
these
bodies
they
should
each
have
your
bullets
pressed
into their
last
memory

And in
Moscow
Putin has cast
the shame
of this war
into a medal
that will
be given
to your
mother at
your grave

12 May, 2022


 

Inside
Putin

The violence
of light would
shatter the
days if
the streets
were not
filled with
the complexity
of destroyed
lives

There is
no empty
space of
ground
to lie
upon
in the
kingdom
of open
graves

14 May, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

i called you
three times
from our
backyard

And when
you came
out of the
house
they shot
you too

Why do we
still weep
when we are
both dead

15 May, 2022


 

Blood
From A
Stone

Putin wants
to kill more
than people

He wants
to kill food
and electricity
and stones

He wants
to kill
schools
houses
apartment-
buildings
hospitals
maternity-
clinics
train stations
playgrounds
grocery stores
and small shops

He wants
to kill history
both past
and present

He wants
culture
on its knees

He wants to
kill open fields
rivers and
cities
trees and
mountains

And what he
most wants
What he
rages against
but has
been unable
to kill

Is Hope
and Resistance
in Ukraine

18 May, 2022


 

In
Russia

One day
a Ukrainian
grandmother
and
grandfather
will appear
at the door
of a Russian
mother

Their
clothes
will be
muddied
their limbs
broken
and their
faces
and hair
stained
with their
own blood

They will
tell the
mother
that they
are waiting
for the
soldier that
killed them
to come
home
from the
war

We are
almost
family
now
they will
explain

We will
need
a seat at
your table
forever

23 May, 2022


 

I Await News
Of Your Death

100 days
of Russia’s
immoral
unjust
war against
Ukraine

Isn’t it time
for Putin’s
heart to
violently
stop
beating

Isn’t it time
for the stigmata
of a child’s
bloody face
to appear on
his body


Isn’t it time
for his own
hands to
strangle
him in
the midst
of one of
his lies

Isn’t it time
for him to
be sentenced
in this waking
nightmare
to dig one grave
after another
for those
he has
never met

those who
never harmed
him

3 June, 2022


In
Ukraine

So many
die in a
chorus
of noise

so many
die by
surprise

no one
should
die in this
mounting
indifferent
hatred

No one
should
lose their
life so
tragically
while these
flowering
days turn
towards
summer

6 June, 2022


 

My Small
Reality

Someone on
the radio says
that after
100 days
the war
in Ukraine
“has become
boring to some”

It is
summer

I am
in our
garden
where
I can
hear
the far
far away

I listen to
unseen
birds offering
a deep mournful
call

There is
more beauty
and fear
in this
world
than I can
comprehend

11 June, 2022



The
Weather

Killing
moves
like a
storm
front
back
and
forth
across
Ukraine

leaving
bodies
lying
in the
streets
and fields
like melting
bloodied
hailstones

14 June, 2022


In
Ukraine

i called you
three times
from our
backyard

And when
you came
out of the
house
they shot
you too

Why do we
still weep
when we are
both dead

14 June, 2022


Climbing Into
The Common
Grave

Someone
unknown
to us is
forced to
their knees
and shot
in the back
of their head

This happens
alongside
the ruins
of a house
in a war
on a June
afternoon

This happens
even as love
exists inside
us all

15 June, 2022


Film
Treatment

No one
is left
living
except
for the
bloodied
film crew
and the
merciless
Director
who cuts
and edits
all life
from his
production
company
in Moscow

16 June, 2022


British Prime Minister Boris Johnson
warned of the danger that “Ukraine fatigue”
could affect the world’s response to the war.
Washington Post – 18 June, 2022

The Prime
Minister
should
take note
that the
lifeless
bodies of
ordinary
Ukrainian
Women
Men
Children
of all ages
The ones
that seem
to tire him
so much
are the most
grievous
examples of
“Ukraine
Fatigue”

If they were
piled up
in his
backyard
and on the
streets of
his country
If he found
them in
his demolished
living room
perhaps
we could
understand
his “Ukraine
fatigue”
at having
to climb
over them
on the way
out of his
unhinged
front door

18 June, 2022


 

One
Another

I know it is
cold comfort
but I like
to think that
the murdered
grandmothers
of Ukraine
are somewhere
holding close
the murdered
school children
of Uvalde

June 22, 2022


 

Ukrainian Ghosts

They want at the
very least to leave
the ground where they
were murdered

but they never will

They can’t move past
the apple trees
where they
were blindfolded
and executed

They will wait out
the war beneath
those beautiful
fruitful trees

hoping that
the roots
of their
broken bodies
will reach
their loved
ones who
lie nearby

June 23, 2022


 

Watching Putin
Through 120
Days Of War

I know
some
things
about
you

that
your
heart
is made
of stone

and that
your eyes
are hollow
like your
soul

And that
death is your
companion
and awakens
beside you
each morning
with the same
desires

And that
it is death
that drives
you to work
in a quiet
blood rage
where you
sign the
invisible
confessions
of those
you are
about to
kill

In photos
you seem
awkward
and sentimental
around the
children whose
parents you
might one day
feel the need to
imprison or murder

June 28, 2022


 

A Soldier’s
Song

At the end
let’s break
our bones
together
and make
a soup
to feed the
loved ones
of everyone
we killed

At the end
maybe we
will both
go home
in one
piece or
something
close to
that

At the end
one country
will still be
free and
the other
will understand
why

June 28, 2022


 

Putin’s
Childhood

A small
boy
who will
grow up
to be a
Tyrant
falls down
and runs
to his
mother
crying

She
holds
him
close
and
strokes
his face

Now
as he
orders
the death of
children
parents and
grandparents
in Ukraine
he remembers
his tears and
her hands
and the
long
unending
run to
her
that still
leaves him
breathless
with fear

June 29, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

The leaf
still red
at its
edges
is mostly
dark
brown
like the
patch of
earth
it came
to rest
upon

You
walk
away
with it
in your
palm
trying
not to
wake it

July 2, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

The light turns
like a river turns
only for
its own reasons

The old tattoo on
your arm is of wheat
bending in the wind

All gone
All gone

What can you see
in this lethal dark

Whose loved ones
can you still identify
in their rough silhouettes
half-buried under the
rubble of everything

How many miles of dead
are needed to satisfy
Putin’s ravenous
appetite for this war
that will one day
swallow everyone
even him

July 3, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

Are you
surprised
to still
believe
in gravity

are you
surprised
that the
moon
does not
come
crashing
down
into one
of your
cities

Are you
surprised
by the
relentless
mutilation
of your
country

Are you
surprised
that the
defense
of liberty
would use
up so many
innocent
lives

and that
you would
still fight
so hard
to keep
freedom
inside one
small village
after another

July 9, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

You untie
the knot
of war
and place
its grief
in my
small
reed boat

Under this
loosening sky
of black salt
I will sail
far away
and bury
the still
bleeding
red cloth
under a
poem in
my garden

In this brief
ripening time
of the plums
I can only
imagine
with words
that no one
will die

July 9, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

The day
returns
to find
more
to kill

And then
even more
to kill

It is never
a different
day
it is always
the same
killing day
over and
over

July 11, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

1.
I see
your body
each morning
in another
field

I see you
where
a bullet
or shell
has left
your
life
behind

2.
I only
write
when I
don’t
know
what to
say

I only
write to
free the words
between my
tongue and
heart

3.
When
I find
myself
in exile
on the
page

When
I find
myself
outside
of any
memory

I look for
you

July 16, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

A grandmother
stands alone
staring at her
burning house

What is left
but to sweep
the path clear
to where her
front door
once stood

This has become
a war of roads
streets and
pathways
that lead
to what
no longer
exists

This has
become
a war
where
grandmothers
grandfathers
and their
grandsons
can die
just a
few feet apart

July 21, 2022


 

A Dance
For Ukraine

10 dancers
six women
four men
dressed in
white
on a stage
marked with
borders

Dancers
recoiling
from
unseen
terrors

Dancers
rushing
towards
each
other
forming
a knot
of grief

And from
that ragged
breathing
knot
individual
arms
reaching
out and
falling
back

And from
that knot
of sorrow
one dancer
after
another
breaking
free and
dancing
alone
only to
be pulled
back
again
into
the knot

Finally
dancers
begin
to peel
away
from
the knot
and dance
their own
freedom
lowering
themselves
down onto
the floor
only to
rise again
stained
with the
red chalk
dust that
covers
the stage

The stage
gradually
goes dark
but the
dancers
don’t
stop
dancing

The
soundscape
that of
shelling
and Putin
speaking

July 23, 2022


 

In
Russia

Those not
seeking
forgiveness
offer up
their lives
under
a flag
whose
darkening
light
illuminates
every nightmare

Only the
unblessed
saints
become
involved
in the
collapse
of hatred
that might
end this
war before
it starts
to murder
all of its
approximate
survivors

July 25, 2022


 

One Artist
In Ukraine

You fill
your
vision
with the
dark
rich
earth
and
photograph
your feet
standing
in one
place

And as
you gather
your art
from what
lies at
hand
within
the ever
widening
killing
fields
of this
war

You refuse
to leave
each day
each life
behind

July 26, 2022


 

The War
Across
Putin’s
Body

Putin’s
hands
tremble
ever so
slightly
as he
decides
who to
kill next

July 27, 2022


 

In Season
(thinking of
Ukraine)

Finally
summer
is deep
in my
pocket
and I
can’t
see
any
trees
without
green
leaves

I bite
the ripe
plum to
taste the
rush of
its sweet
juice

I want
so much
to move
the days
this way
into fall
but can’t
forget
those
taken
out among
their own
backyard
fruit trees
blindfolded
and shot
in the head
well before
summer
had come
this far

July 27, 2022


 

For
A Mother
In Ukraine

I don’t know
what to feel
as I hold
one of
my daughter’s
newborn twin
daughters
so soon
after your own
daughter
has died
in the
shelling

I only want
to cradle
Valentina
and
let her
see the
world as
we hope
it will be

I desperately
want to change
the present
with words

But I hesitate
to summon
any joy
while you are
still weeping
beside me

July 29, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

In this war
a tree is
always
on fire
in the
pitch black
hallway of
a country
standing
firm
in a
trench
filled with
liberty and
blood

August 4, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

You carry
your country
on your
shoulders

there is
a path
that you
walk
through
burning
fields and
streets

a path
through
each innocent
life taken
a path
near your
once lived
quiet life

A mournful
blessing
follows
you into
each fight

And passing
under the
shadows
of your
mountains
and rivers
you see
some of
those who
came to
destroy
your country
lying down
with their
broken bodies
wrapped in
an earthen
bloody cloak
that death has
sewn for them

The sky is
an intense
blue and
there are
sunflowers

August 7, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

Without the
cacophony
of war

Without the
disturbing
mirror
images of
the dead

With all color
and fear
drained from
each day
of fighting

War would
become
the wreckage
of objects

The unexpected
loss of words
to describe
anything
still beautiful

August 8, 2022


 

On The
Newsfront

The editors
have begun
to question

How many
dead or weeping
grandparents
can be shown
How many
burials of
children
How many
mothers
grieving
the loss
of their
sons and
daughters
How many
destroyed
villages and
cities
How many
burning
houses and
apartment
buildings
How many
bodies
in countless
streets
and fields
can be
reported on

The war
in Ukraine
has taken on
a quiet
machine
sound
a kind of
distant highway
humming
a blocks away
directionless
street traffic
sound

unless you
are there

August 12, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

Death
will
survive
the killer
and leave
the war
intact

Love will
take on
another
shape
become
a child’s
bicycle
leaning
against
a tree

August 14, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

Two older
women
are talking
at the corner
of a field
thousands of
miles
from here

they name
their missing
neighbors
and speak
softly
of the dead

they look
to the east
half-expecting
the sky to
erupt again

they embrace
and move apart
calling on God
to see them for
a few seconds

to hear their short
repeated
desperate prayers

August 17, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

In my
film
I am
the one
who
boards
the train
with my
family
just after
you

In my
film
I am
the one
at the
border
who
brings
you a bowl
of thick
hot soup

But
In another
film
I am
the older
unnamed
man with
a cane
who is
blindfolded
and
shot next to
your father

August 20, 2022


 

Ukrainian
Bees

Putin accepts that
Ukrainian bees have
stung his army
repeatedly
during the invasion
of Ukraine

But it is
another matter
entirely
for him to discover
that like-minded bees
are steadily appearing
in his own house

August 21, 2022


 

Writing
About
Ukraine

There
are poems
that begin
in solidarity
but end
with words
burning in
my mouth

There are
poems
that confuse
the living
with those
still to die

There are
poems that
read like a
folded/unfolded
photograph
of parting

There are
poems that
seek out a
street and
the face
and life
of someone
undone by
this war

There are
poems
where
darkness
seems to
overcome
everything
above them

And there are
poems written
by Ukrainians
whose words
include all
of this
but stand firmly
together on their
common ground

August 22, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

Putin
sends missiles
to kill people
at a train station
for the same reason
he sends missiles
into a schoolyard or an
apartment complex
or a maternity clinic
or a theater
or library

His desire is
to kill
uncontrolled
thought
wherever
he finds it

August 25, 2022


 

Tell
Putin

The
only
safe
place
to hide
from
death
is in
your
own
grave

August 28, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

There is
an echo
of sorrow
in every
one of
your
shadows
that will
remain
painful to hear
but necessary
for any future
joy to be
measured
against

August 29, 2022


 

A Poem
For The
Tyrants

Let the
exquisite
poison
of poetry
flood their
bodies with
truth

Let the snakes
on their tongues
find their way
into the rotting
star meat
of their hearts

Let them
fear the
names of
the dead
more than
they love
their own
nightmares

August 29, 2022


 

On The
Bay Bridge
(for Ukraine)

I wanted to
raise our
threadbare
signal flag
poems
to make
the cars
on the
bridge
stop for
awhile
so that
their drivers
could
get out
and lean
against
the railings
to fully
take in
this slowly
bleeding
sunset

August 30, 2022


 

From The
Tyrant’s
Handbook

War is the
unbuilding
of a country

War is the
killing
of each
living
body still
clinging
to hope

Peace is
part of
the slow
preparation
for the next
war

September 2, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

Don’t
look back
at your
dead

look
for a
way
out

Don’t
look
for
hope

look for
a way to
end this
one day

and wait
for another

September 4, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

You declare joy
and sit
waiting for
the water to
boil to exactly
the right sound

You pour
the
turbulent
water
through
the coffee
filter
and sit
again
waiting
for
language
to come
back to
your tongue

Let this be
the last
of the war
you think
let every
star filled
missing sky
come back
into view

September 5, 2022


 

Retaking
Territory

Ukraine fights
to maintain
its liberty

Ukraine fights
to retake
its territory
from those
who invaded it
with lies
and murder

If only days
weeks and
months
could be
retaken

If only
the lives
of those
Ukrainian
children
killed by
this war
could be
retaken

If only
a family
could
be retaken
from the
rubble
of a
house or
apartment

If only
peace
could be
retaken
on any
morning
without
bloodshed

September 10, 2022


 

A Young
Russian
Soldier
In Retreat

One tree
still burns
in a poem
you once
wrote

One kiss
still lingers
in a letter
you left
behind

Scraps of
severed
roots
and
bloodied
earth
fill your
pockets

And from each
blackened doorway
of every
burned out house
an Angel of Death
offers to carry you
home

September 14, 2022


 

In
Ukraine
(for Izyum)

How many
bodies can
they hide
behind
their eyes

graves
in the
sandy
soil
of a
pine
forest

mass
graves
in cities
discarded
bodies
in backyards
under rubble
along roads
and streets

How
many
ways
are
there
to kill
a man
a woman
or even
a child

One day
we will know

September 16, 2022


 

In
Ukraine
(for Izyum)

How many
bodies can
they hide
behind
their eyes

graves
in the
sandy
soil
of a
pine
forest

mass
graves
in cities
discarded
bodies
in backyards
under rubble
along roads
and streets

How
many
ways
are
there
to kill
a man
a woman
or even
a child

One day
we will know

September 17, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

Leaves
still in
one
pocket
summer
is almost
gone

And in
the fall
you will
remember
yourself
on a swing
in the
backyard
ages ago

And in
the always
arriving winter
I know that
even the knives
and the forks
will lie down
with you
and turn
to protect you
from the days
yet to come

September 21, 2022


 

Ghosts
Of
Ukraine

In the
last few
hours
before
they
killed
me
I thought
of some
things
that I
needed
to get
done
around
the house

small tasks
put off for
months

I thought
too
of a poem
I wanted
to read
to you

and how
a blindfold
isolates
words

I thought
of how
I like to
look into
your eyes
as I tell
you that
I love you

and how
sometimes
we kiss so
deeply that
it seems a
farewell

September 25, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

When a loved one
is killed
they leave behind
a very small piece
of their horizon

And that is why
on some days
you find yourself
staring at the
smallest
edge of blue
in your dark sky

September 28, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

You close the eyes
of your dead
and cover them
with a sheet
of plastic

Bury them so that
they will no longer
see the murderous
Imperial greed
of Putin
who willingly trades
uncounted bodies
and uniforms
filled with blood
for a destroyed
city or an
apple orchard

Or even
for a few
meters of
someone’s
backyard
in Ukraine

September 30, 2022


 

One
Day

At the market
checkout
counter
she asks me
if I need a
bag or a
war or a
poem

A poem
I say and
on the way
home
I read
a poem
about
geese
flying over
a marshland
in Ukraine

October 1, 2022


 

Russian
Soldiers
Retreat

The clouds
are filled
with blood
and you
watch them
carefully
as you make
your way
through the
violence
of days

Tell us what
is next
you demand
of the dead

give us fair
warning of
the length
of each winter
still to come

Tell us
quickly now
above the
chaos of
our lying

How can we
leave our bodies
behind
and go home
without a
mortal wound

October 4, 2022


 

Russian
Tactics

Putin asks
his generals
what can we
destroy next

is there
anything left
of value to
someone

Can we kill
everyone in
a photo
album
picture
by picture

Maybe
kill the
same person
over and over
in a series of
photographs
at every age
depicted

October 11, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

How many
praise songs
does death
need to
hear
before
turning
away from
your door

Surely these
strange days
have been
filled with
those songs
that never
seem to end

even at the edge
of the grave

October 12, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

The war
pauses for
the length
of a poem
be it long
or short
someone
takes
another
breath
and
watches
the sky
suddenly
fill with
beauty
and hope

October 12, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

And I
pray with
these words
that there will
be a day
once again
when you
no longer
see a body
in your
backyard
but see
only the
eager joy
of the
children
at your
five year
old
grandson’s
birthday
party

October 19, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

I want to
see Putin
knitting a
winter cap
for a child
whose mother
he has killed

I want to
see Putin
reading a
storybook
to a child
whose father
will never
come home

I want to
see Putin
preparing
a meal for
the family
of each
missing
grandparent

I want to
see Putin
as a grave
singer
for the
rest of
his life

his voice
a lament
of blood
that keeps
rising in
his throat

October 26, 2022


 

Russian
Field
Manual

A lie
is a
way
to get
close
enough
to shoot
a civilian
in the
head

A lie
is a
way
to
bring
ordinary
citizens
to the
edge
of a
mass
grave

A lie once
embellished
distracts
you from
remembering
your own
nightmares

October 27, 2022


 

Tyrants

I can’t stand
the way
they swim
in language
the way
they shake
words from
their meaning
annoys me

I can’t stand
how they
look around
for a bloodier
knife or
the way they
strangle each
rag doll
they find
next to a body

Why do they
continue to
find room in
our shoes

Can’t we ever
be alive
anymore
without them
always killing us
for supper

October 28, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

The war
will not
rest until
it kills
itself in
front of
its own
children

who swear
revenge

November 1, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

I dedicate
this poem
to the
poisoned
fecund
earth of
Ukraine

To the rivers
that hold
reservoirs
of spilled
blood

To the
barking
lost
wounded
dogs and
unseen
feral cats

To the
fallen
executed
birds

To the
ripped apart
lifeless
trees and
graveyard
orchards

To the
insects
and animals
that have forever
seen past their
own death
but now look
to us in
their plaintive
movements
to speak
as best we can
on their behalf

November 8, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

I can write
with clarity
about what
I cannot see
in front of
me

except for
the war in
Ukraine
which I
can only
outline
in rage and
sorrow

And to those
dying today
by a bullet
shell or
missile
I can only
try to
write myself
there on paper
and lie down
in your
fallen shadows

Hoping in
some way
to see not just
your death
but the life
behind it
with clarity

November 10, 2022


 

Putin

He would
no doubt
lock up a
bird
and give it
a name
because he
feared what
he could not
name and
control

and in
between
creating
nightmares
he valued
kinship

I watched
and listened
closely to
a BBC
report of a
75 year old
Ukrainian
woman
who recounted
opening
her front door
to someone
pounding
on it
and when she
did open the
door she
was punched
in the face
by a Russian
soldier who
after ransacking
her house
came back to
beat and rape her

She made it clear
as she sat on a couch
next to a friend
that there was no
forgiveness in
her heart
and wondered
aloud what she
had ever done to
that soldier to
deserve his
violence

And later
I walked out
into our garden
and stared at the
apple tree whose
fruit came early
this year but was
bitter to each
bite until
some time
later when its
sweetness was
unexpectedly
released

I wonder now
why the Russian
flag has not
grown too heavy
to raise above
any elementary
school in Russia

as it is soaked
with the blood
of so many
innocent lives

November 16, 2022


 

The War
In Ukraine

When someone
has driven out
or killed your
family members

When someone
has terrorized
and beaten the
old and the young

When soldiers have
left the deep scars
of rape and executions
like so many leaves
scattered on the
ground behind them

And tortured
and killed scores
of perceived enemies
in occupied areas

When someone
has waged total
war on you and
the very existence
of your country

Is any senseless
brutal act of
personal violence
against them
to be considered
a war crime

or simply
another
moral suicide
attached to
any war

November 22, 2022


 

Russian
Solitaire
In Ukraine

If they
draw
the
jack
of
clubs
in your
name
they
will
beat
you
into
the
next
hour
of
every
day

If they
turn
over
the
queen
of hearts
they will
rape her

If you
keep
shouting
NO
to
each
new
card
they
will
cut
that
word
from
your
tongue
and
write
YES
on your
confession

And then
discard
your body

November 23, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

The birds
in this
war
change
sides
every
day

they
know
nothing
of drawn
borders

they take
to the air
when startled
by shooting
or explosions

but  accept
the bodies
on the ground
as part of their
new landscape

They
carefully
watch
from the
severed limbs
of nearby
trees

as death flies
everywhere
around them

November 25, 2022


 

A Place
To Start
Counting

In Russia
the body
count
begins
each day
with the
names of
their sons

In Ukraine
the body
count
begins
each day
with the
names
of their
grandmothers

December 1, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

The one
who left
the house
early
on his
bicycle
to find
food

was killed

The one
who stayed
to clear the
table
and look
for a
sweater

was killed

The child
who was
only thinking
about how
warm her
mother’s
hand felt
caressing
her cheek

was killed
with her

December 2, 2022


 

Putin

He seeks
the womb
of the
destroying
father

He wants
to bathe
Ukraine
in the
swift
rivers of
ashen
blood

Between
his lies
is the
intimacy
of unending
nightmares

He
seeks
his
rebirth
in the
bodies
of his
enemies

and
in the
innocence
of those
he continues
to murder

December 5, 2022


In
Ukraine

The war
weeps
in forced
consent
as we
listen to
its cruel
broken
narrative
on our
kitchen
radios

Outside
the storm
clouded
window
is winter
rain and
gusts of
wind

My wish
for you
is a year
of ordinary
seasons

And that
in this
new year
you stamp
the cold from
your boots
and hear
your name
spoken with
pleasure by
someone you
love

December 11, 2022


In
Ukraine

If you find
a spoon
on your
walk
it means
that your
coming
child
will have
a good
appetite

If you
come home
one night
and find
three
bodies
in the
street
and your
house
dark and
quiet

it means
the war
has found
you

and taken
everything
away

December 14, 2022


 

Putin Demands
That The
Avenging Angel
Forgive Him

I have no
miracles
for you
she said
to Putin

I only
see you
as you
are

and marvel
with others
at how your
very own
violent
wounds
have
completely
swallowed
you

December 18, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

The New
Year
will arrive
in Ukraine
but there
will be
far
fewer
people
to welcome
it into
the season

The New
Year will
arrive
amid the
continuing
wreckage
of the
Old Year

The New
Year will
arrive
as the
bodies
of many
who were
executed
are still
unidentified
and alone

waiting for
their shrouds
of memory

The New
Year will
arrive
and be
immediately
covered in
the bloodshed
of steadfast
liberty

much like the day
before this one

December 21, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

Words
like
death
and
luck
are
written
in the
winter
months
without
hesitation

Words
like
love
are
written
slowly
painfully

The
school
notebook
that you
found
in the
mud
had
drawings
of stick
figure
women
and
men
weeping
and
dozens
of small
red
broken
hearts

These days
are  still
made
of words
and images
that have
lately
left you
and now
bleed over
into our
lives

December 28, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

Death
falls
from
the
sky
landing
on
a
school
report
card
from
two
years
ago

“…she
is quiet
but a
good
reader
and colors
her life
with a
wonderful
imagination…”

December 29, 2022


 

For
Ukraine

1.
You are
only
close
when
I sing
to you

I sing
below
your
name

It is
usually
too late
when I
begin
writing
a path
through
the day

Now I
feel at home
in my ragged
bones

2.
I stare hard
at the trees
that fight
with the
heartless
winter wind

I want to
live among
those old
trees
that bend
and break
in places

but never
give up
their deepest
roots

December 30, 2022


 

In
Ukraine

Even
when
this war
is quiet
on one
street
it
continues
to burn
at its
edges

Even
when
your
country
stops
burning
the war
will wait
above
your trees

Wanting
to see
how many
survivors
might die
of grief

January 12, 2023


 

In
Ukraine

Once the
day has
opened
the killing
will begin

Once the
killing has
begun
you should
step away
from the
windows
and the
doors

you
should
step away
from the
clouds
and the
streets
under
them

And if
you are
still living
in words
at the end
of this war

You
should
consider
the lines
in your
palm
as the
last of
the roads
that you
still have
to travel
to reach
home

January 18, 2023


 

In
Ukraine

You tie
her shoes
and look
up at
one part
of the
wrath
filled
sky
that fell
on your
child
who only
wanted
to draw
horses

January 19, 2023


 

In
Ukraine

There is
nothing
left
between
his hands
but a
burning
house

Around
him
are
fields
holding
angled
motion
less
bodies
as if on
a destroyed
dance floor

How does
one
establish
that one
is still
alive
he asks
of one
body

How does
one locate
the desire
for another
breath

despite the
absence of
a living
witness

February 1, 2023


 

In
Ukraine

You declare joy
and sit
waiting for
the water to
boil to exactly
the right sound

You pour
the
turbulent
water
through
the coffee
filter
and sit
again
waiting
for
language
to come
back to
your tongue

Let this be
the last
of the war
you think
let every
star filled
missing sky
come back
into view

February 1, 2023


 

In
Ukraine

The light

is in the

midst

of a

seizure

while

the

divide

between

each

wound

shortens

to a

few gasps

of breath

You can hear

the piano

repeating

the run of

notes

that moved

you forward

and back

under the

trees

This

impulse

to shed

your

weapons

and dance

is so strong

that you

plead

with death

to look

in another

direction

as you

leap

and turn

in the

air

February 5, 2023


 

In
Ukraine

You tie
her shoes
and brush
the dirt
from them

You look
up at
one part
of the
wrath
filled
sky
that fell
on your
child
who only
wanted
to draw
horses

February 11, 2023


 

In
Ukraine
(Valentine’s
Day)

The
language
of love
in war
is understood
by every
soldier
but only
spoken after
the bullet
has torn
open
the heart

as in
a film

where one
has time
for some
parting
words

February 12, 2023


 

In
Ukraine

A year
of dying
and fighting
of leaving
and staying

A year
of loss
and memory

of torment
and
sacrifice

A year of
women
and men

of children
and mothers
and fathers

of grandparents
rooted
in their lives

A year
of love
and solidarity
of friendship
and tenderness

a year of
tears

A year of
the old
among you
listening to
gunfire
and watching
the sky

A year
of words
said over
your dead
wherever
they were
found

A year
of the
wounded

A year
of the
wreckage
of cities
and villages
within
the changing
seasons
of war

A year
of stubbornness

A year
of resistance

A year of
hard fought liberty

February 24, 2023


 

In
Ukraine

The madness
of Putin is in
his wish to
commit suicide
every few
minutes
by killing
someone
unknown
to him
no matter
how far
away their
kitchen is

no matter
the soup
ladled out

no matter
the
emptied
bowls
to wash
and dry
and put
away

March 12, 2023


 

A Russian
War Story

The birds
fly in a
crazy
back and
forth
knot of
perfection

They distract us
momentarily
from our
killing of the
innocents

How much
is left to
see from
our windows
of carnage

How many
more are
there to
dispose of
before we
reach our
promised grace
and forgiveness

April 15, 2023


 

Marking
Time In
The War

1.
One picks up
the spoon
and one
picks up
the fork

They both
wait for
the one
who will
pick up
the knife

2.
No one
can rest
while
there
are still
generations
to kill

3.
Some
ordinary
grandfathers
were made to
raise their hands
above their
heads to establish
the placement
of their
falling bodies
in the shallow
backyard
graves

4.
How long
into the
seasons
does it
take to
stop
killing
someone

or their
family

April 19, 2023


 

Like
Putin

Like Putin
there are
mornings
when I
awaken as
an insane
donkey

Like Putin
there are
mornings
when I
awaken
as the
King of
Self-
Annihilation

Unlike Putin
I find truth
a country
that I will
not violate

Unlike Putin
I don’t see
mass-murder as
an alternative
to happiness

April 30, 2023


 

War And

Peace

In Russia

1.

War

Every day

the house

of the liar

adds a

new door

so that

more

bodies

can be

carried

past his

breakfast

table

so

that he

can read

almost like

a newspaper

the

innocence

and rage

the prayers

and fear

the

unwavering

resistance

 

on the

countless

faces

of those who

continue to

oppose him

2.

Peace

The

garden

doves

display

the

vast

night

sky

under

their

wings

before

mating

May 18, 2023


 

Like
Putin

Like Putin
there are
mornings
when I
awaken as
an insane
donkey

Like Putin
there are
mornings
when I
awaken
as the
King of
Self-
Annihilation

Unlike Putin
I find truth
a country
that I will
not violate

Unlike Putin
I don’t see
mass-murder as
an alternative
to happiness

April 30, 2023


 

War And

Peace

In Russia

1.

War

Every day

the house

of the liar

adds a

new door

so that

more

bodies

can be

carried

past his

breakfast

table

so

that he

can read

almost like

a newspaper

the

innocence

and rage

the prayers

and fear

the

unwavering

resistance

 

on the

countless

faces

of those who

continue to

oppose him

2.

Peace

The

garden

doves

display

the

vast

night

sky

under

their

wings

before

mating

May 18, 2023


 

Putin

He tires
some
days
of the
repetitive
work
of killing
people
and
towards
the end
of the
day
he gets
up from
his bone
factory
table and
walks to
the window
to stare
at the
emptying
employee
parking
lot

May 27, 2023


 

In
Ukraine

You awake
thinking
am I still
here

and you
hold onto
one another
whenever
you can

So that
if death
wanders
into your
destroyed
home
it will
not find
you alone
and
unthought
of

And that
might
in itself
alter
its terrible
urgency
for a
length of
time

May 28, 2023


 

In
Ukraine

You awake
thinking
am I still
here

and you
hold onto
one another
whenever
you can

So that
if death
wanders
into your
destroyed
home
it will
not find
you alone
and
unthought
of

And that
might
in itself
alter
its terrible
urgency
for a
length of
time

May 28, 2023


 

At The

Trial Of

Vladimir

Putin

The

prosecution

has called

as a first

witness

the entire

country of

Ukraine

And

marked

as

exhibit

#1

on

maps

stretching

the length

of the

Ukrainian

border

the

location

of each

civilian

shot

and

thrown

into a

shallow

grave

May 30, 2023