by Rikki Santer
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| Image combines illustration by Thomas Gaulkin / DonkeyHotey (Flickr, CC BY-SA 4.0) / VectorStock with photo by Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Sputnik, via Associated Press and NYT. |
President Vladimir Putin of Russia formally announced a new nuclear doctrine this weekend, but the response in Washington was just short of a yawn.—The New York Times, November 19, 2024
Trump has a strategic plan for the country: Gearing up for nuclear war. —Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists —July 2, 2024
On the precipice of historical near misses who
will go first, six or so decades of strange love
for hair trigger alert, are we on the clock feeling
for the light switch, heads submerged in a cloud
of unknowing, more nuclear-weapon states
on the chess board, silos loaded with missiles,
armed submarines wander deep into oceans
and 47 plans to twist treaties, accelerate warheads,
once launched no recall, the mad mad
mad mad world of it, bunker down
In 2023, Rikki Santer was named Ohio Poet of the Year. Her forthcoming collection, Shepherd’s Hour, won the Paul Nemser Book Prize from Lily Poetry Review Books.