Ukraine, War Resistance, Hopes for Peace, Human Rights

Ukraine, War Resistance, Hopes for Peace, Human Rights

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1.Sergei Eisenstein Would Be So Proud: Epic Siege Of Mariupol Which Seems To Look Lots Like Massive Grave

Stretched over 4.2 square miles, the Azovstal steel complex

is/ was a sprawling warren of rail lines, warehouses, coal furnaces, factories, chimneys

above essentially an underground city of tunnels seen as ideal for guerrilla warfare.

This Eastern Ukraine factory reportedly had more then 12,000 worker homes, schools,

movie theaters, as well as [once] hospital/maternity plus two parks allegedly include three circuses

and bunkers to withstand Western attacks then their imperialist nuclear rain.

But now today there, its past-USSR-glories boss, Mother Russia, offers no coddling

while missiles reign down on cannon fodder ferociously enough

for just maybe hopeful final bloody putsch to push Zelensky’s troops out of commission.

Czar Putin commits whatever crying-shame crimes against humanity

deemed necessary to secure subterranean labyrinths that consist of sometimes-shell-shocked patriots –

no bread left, they shoot pigeons – curled in fetal positions whilst attempting to resist

enraged Vladimir’s frantic last hundred hours; hoping/praying another evacuation convoy is dispatched

ahead of cannister incinerated, before relieved Fearful Leader can gladly declare (and go home?),

Our Annual Victory over Nazis Day!...versus simply another made-up Crimean Potemkin Village.

2.Once-Upon-A-Time Hardcore Secular Jewish Boomer Gerry Had Such Very Great Expectations

In a letter written to a friend in 1959, Flannery O’Connor lamented that some members of the clergy,

when arguing in favor of Catholic teaching on procreation, felt the need to assuage concerns about

overpopulation. “I wish various fathers would quit trying to defend it by saying that the world can

support 40 billion,” she wrote. “I will rejoice in the day when they say: This is right, whether

we all rot on top of each other or not, dear children, as we certainly may.”*

World of hurt: yet another rotten orchard a day ‘til your pip squeaks

Our grand/ children’s future seemed potentially bleak enough

What with already bad climate change plus democracy issues

But recently above got much worse when complicated

By Ukraine “Nazi” war and Supreme Court rulings

Which included Roe versus Wade leaks

That bring more babies onto this earth

Than can reasonably accommodate.

I am so sad about the pity of it all

As possible solutions shrink

Down to longer ‘n longer

Existential odds of

Johnny Appleseed

Survival – no less

Dickensianoid

Satisfaction

Happiness

–Perhaps

Aborted

Bliss?

Oy.

*Overturning Roe Will Disrupt a Lot More Than Abortion. I Can Live With That

3. Huh?

I am told by

an unreliable

source, Poles

[my grandpa

was arguably

one but he

vehemently

thought of

himself only

as a Jew;

wonder if

such colors

this slur...]

...consider

neighboring

Ukrainians —

the same folks

we now find

so heroic –

thugs.

How ‘bout that?

4.Mariupol military might (maybe?) haiku

land, sea, air, cyber,

special forces —> to end siege

use tactical nuke?

5.Ukraine raison d'etre haiku

Putin exploiting

miniscule number Sieg Heilers

–oy, so over it

About the Author

Gerard Sarnat

Late-phase often graphic poet arrived in seventh decade, aphorist, humorist or sometimes meanderist; Gerard Sarnat’s a multiple Pushcart/Best of Net Award nominee. Activism Through Poetry: How Gerard Sarnat Uses Verse as a Form of Protest is a 2025 retrospective. His work’s been widely published; including four collections; by Rattle, London Arts-Based Research Centre, Israel Association of Writers in English, The Nature of Our Times/Poets For Science, Gravity of the Thing, Brooklyn Review, Tokyo Poetry Journal, Gargoyle, New Delta Review, Buddhist Review, New York Times, Oberlin, St. John’s University, Northwestern, Yale, Pomona, Harvard, Missouri Baptist, Stanford, Dartmouth, Penn, Columbia, Grinnell, Johns Hopkins, NYU, Brown, North Dakota, McMaster, Maine, British Columbia/Toronto/Chicago, Virginia and Alabama university presses. He’s a Harvard Medical School-trained physician, Stanford professor, healthcare CEO. Currently, he’s devoting energy and resources to dealing with climate justice, serving on Climate Action Now’s board. Sarnat’s belonged to the longest-running U.S. Jewish-Palestinian Dialogue Group. Gerry’s been married since 1969 and has three kids, six grandsons — and looks forward to future granddaughters.