(x = space)

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Torn Flags for a Second Anniversary

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Russia attacks

It’s in the news

The biggest

In two years

And we must say

Two years

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Maybe he looked out

Upon the anniversary

And said

To generals

Still extant

Finish this

Forgetting that one human will

Is not enough

For playing

God

Not being God

Over the world

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Too big

Too complicated

Too many wills

For one set

Set to prevail

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Campaigns stutter

Exhausted

Of all things

All attacking things

Then sometimes

Pushed the other way

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What do Russians

Think

And how will we ever know

We should imagine

They’ll all over

As we are

However our side might be

Arranged

As another side

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There is other news

But this is bad

And we forget

Too easily

Though it is human

To hold many things

At the same time

And to serve life

In more

With more

Than one of these

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Serve pleasure

Serve delight

Serve causes

Serve what means something

And what means something

In between

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But Russia has attacked

Pushed itself

Over a cliff

To fall upon Ukraine

With so much

Following collision

Mixed with gravity

Judgment and history

To follow

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Except that now

There’s blood

And everything that’s ruined

Killed in war

Everything stone

And all materials

Destroyed

And how shall it be over

Without being over

Probably

x

But frankly in a worse place

Both shall remain

So much more singly

Than together

Without extraordinary measure

That leaders

Cannot advocate

For now

Though maybe people

Like us people

At last will have a say

So that

Some things might end

The better things

Starting with rebuilding

What might be rebuilt

Mourning

For the loss

That can’t be found

Raised up

By us

Again

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But raising

Rising

Nonetheless

What we are capable

What we are willful

To build

And have

Upon our lives

What we can manage

Share

Again

Or if need be

(as an impulse

and a pattern)

From the first

A new first

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C L Couch

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Photo by Wolfgang Mennel on Unsplash

Layering of Posters on a Lamppost

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