by Susan Terris
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| Kira Rudyk |
In Ukraine, Kira Rudyk—member of Parliament—told
Wolf Blitzer on CNN, she has just been trained to use
a Kalashnikov rifle to help defend her city of Kyiv.
Our women, she said, will protect the soil same as our men.
Then she mentioned her young daughter. Instead of
trying to explain if/when/how/why Russians invade,
she teaches her child to play the game. If you know
an attack’s imminent, you lie on your belly in the safest
place that’s near. Hands on your ears, mouth open,
so then you’re a turtle. It’s a don’t move/lie next to me/
pretend thing. As I watched, listened, tears slid down
my cheeks, and I thought for a moment that Kira was
the mother of my grandchildren, protecting them
with a Russian rifle and a game learned on the internet.
Susan Terris is a freelance editor and the author of 7 books of poetry, 17 chapbooks, 3 artist's books, and 2 plays. Journals include The Southern Review, Georgia Review, Prairie Schooner, Denver Quarterly, and Ploughshares. Poems of hers have appeared in Pushcart Prize and Best American Poetry. Ms. Terris is editor emerita of Spillway Magazine and a poetry editor at Pedestal.