by Marc Swan
“This is a relatively civilized” city, he says, referring to Kyiv, after saying it’s not like Iraq or Afghanistan. https://t.co/q6UEtwvzyZ
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) February 26, 2022
Each morning after an espresso
from our six-cup stovetop
with granola, yogurt and blueberries
in our favorite ceramic bowls
we review the news in the online sources
disheartening is a mild term
enlightening
sometimes
watching the world dissolve before our eyes
is unnerving, overwhelming, disjointing
first European invasion since WW II
how quickly we have forgotten invasions
in Gaza, Egypt, Lebanon, the Balkans, Africa,
and points beyond and in between
today eastern and western economies
have our attention
fuel prices, trade options, empty store shelves
car prices, building supplies, and yes
the list has only begun
we are interlocked in this chaotic world
of language differences, money differences
but most of all ideology differences
that create distrust, uncertainty, and taint
the taste of Pavé Toulousain cheese
we used to get
from the French farm outside Toulouse
and the crisp white Txakolina
imported from the Pyrenees—
that once seemed so important
Marc Swan, a retired vocational rehabilitation counselor, lives in coastal Maine. Poems recently published in Gargoyle, Crannóg, Chiron Review, Queen’s Quarterly, among others. His fifth collection all it would take was published in 2020 by tall-lighthouse (UK).