NVN Sunday: 2 poems… as the war goes on
“War, By All Means” by Indran Amirthanayagam and “When Almonds Appear” by Judy Trupin
WAR, BY ALL MEANS
by Indran Amirthanayagam
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War. To end all wars. War. To squash, squeeze, stamp out flea, bug, virus, hate-filled cur. War. To avenge children, women, men, mowed down by cars, in homes, gardens, streets. War. Angels of doom, of death, thousands of flares splashing the night sky, shot down, blown up, debris falling aimlessly, thousand injured, two thousand dead and counting. War. Invasion. Unprovoked. Stoked. Warships and aircraft carriers roaring towards the middle of the Middle East, with sheikhs and princes, and restless armies, drumming again, to defend, to protect the right to exist? To live unbombed? By a temple unbombed? School unbombed? Agricultural cooperative, unbombed? War. Peace. Yes bring the 'niks into the chat. Unify the world before the horror and awe. Get laws passed that will legalize the extra- territorial execution. War. Times of War. Times of throwing civic bones to dogs. Dogs of war. Howling, yapping dogs of war. Poor canines we steal for metaphors. Metaphor. Cadence, Rhyme. Unreason: War. Temporary Solution:War.
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Indran Amirthanayagam is the translator of Origami: Selected Poems of Manuel Ulacia (Dialogos Books). Ten Thousand Steps Against the Tyrant (BroadstoneBooks) is the newest collection of Indran's own poems. Recently published is Blue Window (Ventana Azul), translated by Jennifer Rathbun.(Dialogos Books). In 2020, Indran produced a “world" record by publishing three new poetry books written in three languages: The Migrant States (Hanging Loose Press, New York), Sur l'île nostalgique (L’Harmattan, Paris) and Lírica a tiempo (Mesa Redonda, Lima). He edits The Beltway Poetry Quarterly and helps curate Ablucionistas. He won the Paterson Prize and received fellowships from The Foundation for the Contemporary Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, US/Mexico Fund For Culture, and the MacDowell Colony. He hosts the Poetry Channel on YouTube and publishes poetry books with Sara Cahill Marron at Beltway Editions.
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WHEN ALMONDS APPEAR
by Judy Trupin
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Before we speak of war of enemies of those deserving to die please imagine your grandmother in her lilac flowered housecoat nylon, I think holding out a chipped blue plate with slightly burned almond cookies. you don’t like almond cookies but you take one chew it out of love your grandmother smiles and you return the smile. as you lean in to hug her her image dissolves into the other the one you have learned to hate the ones whose offspring perhaps are killing your neighbors as your relatives are perhaps killing hers. her bones are sturdier than your grandmother's the skin on her arms a few shades different from yours her dress a soft moss green but she still holds the chipped blue plate of almond cookies an offering you invite her in you'd like to ask her to call in her offspring and you will invite your parents, uncles and aunts to sit together smooth out all that matters but that is not to be. your grandmother returns scatters almonds on the countertop one for every child killed this week dough appears you cannot tell from where. the grandmothers in tandem pound smooth and roll partition it for the almonds one for every child you watch you count the endless stream of cookies as tray after tray is set in the oven. Outside the war goes on.
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Judy Trupin is a writer, yoga instructor and teacher of adult immigrants. She has recently left New York City behind and is exploring life in Pittsburgh.