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Hot Spots

It’s close enough to be war

Venezuela, Colombia

The Philippines, Myanmar

Eastern Ukraine

Syria, Yemen, the Sudans,

And Nigeria (thanks to Boko Haram)

These are near enough to war

And there are other places

Do we name Chicago?

Are wildfires war? Then we must

Add California

And the violence of our spirits?

Where does that extend the boundary?

Is it a cosmos that wars as well?

In terms of matter, we might claim entropy

Or the mustard gas of stars’ annihilation

But where is will?

I think we need to know

This becomes our place in the universe as well

Does matter tilt toward intention

Or simple cessation?

Whose woods these are I think I know.

Does it participate,

The maker and the builder—

Does it build?

Do we matter,

Does matter matter?

Does a notion of a providence bamboozle?

Okay, I don’t think so, the Calvinist

In me will out

We need to talk about this

Let’s think first,

Maybe set something down

Like homework

Then come together, class,

To learn

We learn from each other

Dialogic, the style of Socrates

Synthesis, Hegelian

On the other side, what then?

We live more fully,

Fed on coffee, pastries, wine, and cheese

Civil plates’ discussion

Offering cups of cold water

Never forget that

A metaphor made real every time

Even a commandment

We live better together

Each one has one’s own

It is a choice

It is a pleasure

A present

And a future

C L Couch

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech