i’ve stopped ending poems with periods i’ve stopped writing in phrases i don’t have a reason life is messy but 

i want it to go on and on so i no longer 

end it when it spills onto the page 

today they attacked ukraine, i mean 

russia did they attacked ukraine i don’t know why really 

i've never known war or really why it must 

happen they say 

we are in a historic moment 

we are always in a historic moment i've realized but this one is marked by war 

war is not patriotic 

i've read that somewhere on a 

blue flyer my history teacher’s board 

war is not patriotic you are not doing a service 

by killing your brothers it is always your own blood you spill

always your kin 

i have not known war nor do i want to 

i have not known death nor do i want to i know i live on top of the corpses 

though 

 

i do not want others to know war 

 

what does the world care what i want

 

today russia invaded ukraine they killed civilians they said 

bodies lying in the street

these are normal people

lying they are 

not resting 

they are dead 

we are left to imagine 

we are always left to imagine 

America, o land of the free 

my hands are tied 

there’s nothing we can do 

 

there is nothing we can do but 

we know those that are fighting 

through our instagram feeds at least

i am not a historian but i find this 

fascinating 

i find it dreadful 

lord, let me close my eyes 

i don’t want to see this please i don’t want to know 

if i’m like this i chuckle if i’m like this now imagine what i will be like on the battlefield useless probably 

female weak pliable the first to die 

this generation is so ungrateful 

do you mean happy? is that what you mean? 

i don’t want to fight a war and i don’t want anyone else to either 

can't we all drink kombucha and meditate? 

can’t we do a facemask together? 

i’ll make the avocado toast if you grab the cucumber 

 

russia invaded ukraine it is the first move of many i’m guessing 

either we kill ourselves or 

either we kill ourselves slow or all at once 

i’m crossing my fingers for slow, myself 

i’m crossing my fingers for those in ukraine

for those in russia, too, the men the women the children

they’re dying and i don’t have the right to speak 

maybe the force of my will can change that 

maybe if i step over the cracks in the concrete 

maybe if i never go under the wrong side of the ladder 

and toss the salt over my shoulder 

maybe they’ll survive and putin putin!  will declare 

“nevermind, guys, i give up”

this is too casual but i’m scared and i don’t know how else to say 

“this is another tragedy, but it’s preventable” 

“this is terrible, horrible, a barer to come”

“i feel useless and guilty and there are people dying and i don’t know how many or to what extent and i’m scared i’m terrified” 

“how can we trust our leaders when it’s so easy to lie?” 

and 

“who can i trust to tell me the reality?”

 

i mean for wars of oil maybe the public consciousness will turn its head 

for people not white and of different descent 

but for russia, for ukraine 

we’ve seen too many james bond movies, we know this won’t end well 

 

no, i don’t think this will end well 

at least not as well as we hope