CONSIDERING WAR

by Amy Shimshon-Santo

Dead bodies are placed into a mass grave on the outskirts of Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 9. (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP)

after Cesar Vallejo (“considerando el frío, imparcialmente”)

considering that bombs 

leave craters in the earth

making it difficult

to mobilize hospitals,

carry pregnant mothers

across fields of rubble

comprehending the cold breath of sunday

broken bridges, 

families gathered beneath them 

without exact destinations

beyond a border

understanding that mammals with bombs

are cold hearted

explosive-death-machines, 

considering that men

—and I will call them that

because of their bombs —

explode sites

leaving the enduring silence

of family members

understanding that a cadaver

cannot speak

& I am just a storyteller

still living 

with the possibility of voice

I will make my breath a sign

painted in horror 

across the sky

that begs the bombing 

to stop

Amy Shimshon-Santo is a poet and educator who believes that culture is a powerful tool for personal and social transformation. Her interdisciplinary work connects the arts, education, and urbanism. She is the author of Even the Milky Way Is Undocumented (Unsolicited Press, Pushcart Prize & Rainbow Reads Award nominee). 

BEFORE EARTH IS LOST

by George Salamon

“In Conclusion” by Peter Kuper at The Nib

"Humans have become as great an influence on the planet as the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs," Anthony Barnosky, Stanford University biologist, quoted in The New York Times, July 30, 2021

Paradise was lost long ago,

now it's the turn of Earth,

where humans have assumed

privileges and rights for themselves:

this island belongs to us, one

nation claims, another the right

to inhabit space.

We're mammals, denying the

prehistory of our origins, the

story of how our ancestors

turned the earth's jungles into

today's fortress of machine

and stone.

We've moved too quickly past

the awe for earth's order, left

behind in the wild, playful

nature of the child, now that 

we are beginning to feel the

coming storm.

George Salamon lives and waits, hoping for the best, in St. Louis, MO.