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PORTSIDE CULTURE

WAKING  
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Gloria Vando

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_ Poet Gloria Vando considers who wins and who loses in the new arms
race. _

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Peace, then, is the humdrum,the everyday, the ordinary—like
breathing in and out and in and out;Peace is the daybreak, the
waking,from nightmares, sickness, desolation,to Mozart,
love-making,optimal weather conditions or forecastsof inclement
afternoons—but waking.Peace is the silent squeezeof the sun into the
crease of the sea,the rhythmic rising and falling of dolphinslike
waves within waves,or gawky gulls crashinglike bombs but not bombs
into the surf,the green flash—why not?Peace is the steady susurrus
of the sea caressing the sand, the heartbeating paradiddles to a
loved one’s faceor grinding down to a Proustian pace—but beating,
beating.  

Talk about the quality of life,talk about freedom, liberation,
trust,the dominion of the skies, the land, the sea,talk about
“them,” talk about “us,”talk about their philosophy versusour
philosophy, about spheresof influence and the party of the firstpart
making the first strike against the party of the second part
beforethe party of the second part knows what hit him;talk about the
Kremlin, the Pentagon,MX missiles,Trident subs and Davy Crocketts;talk
about talk and more talk,  SALT talks, START talks, prime time
talks,Voice of America talks, talk talks;talk about hate and
fear,about nuking enough young bucksto keep the old bucks in
power,yeah, let’s talk about bucks—big bucks,oil bucks, really big
buckscompounded by coke and snow andthe nuclear winter of our
discontinent;talk about muscle, balls, guts, the United States
Marines,mother, the American flag, and apple pie;talk about Trump,
Musk, insanity, greed, Armageddon, God—yes, talk about God,but when
you do, brother, know that you’re in trouble, on the brink,ready to
push the red button,do the planet in,one millionth of a megatonfrom
never having to say you’re sorry.And, after the big, the biggest
goddamned bangno one will ever hear, then try, just try to get buried
in consecrated ground:POX vobiscum.

_GLORIA VANDO's books and poems have won numerous awards.  Her poem
is included in the "Archive of Artists" on the Polaris Rocket Mission
to the Moon (April 2025). She is founding publisher/editor of Helicon
Nine Editions, contributing editor of The North American
Review, and co-founder of The Writers Place in Kansas City.  She
serves on the boards of the Venice Arts Council and Beyond Baroque in
Los Angeles._

* Nuclear war
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* war and peace
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INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

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