The end of a war
is peace. Women sell themselves
for cigarettes, eventually
won’t have to. Men
put murder behind them. Workers
make moderate demands
that are actually partly
granted. Thus the defeated
are blessed. Among victors, relief
at having survived, calculation
re jobs, and the need not
to speak become one
motive; self-importance
for a moment is held in abeyance.
I was born at such a time;
wish I’d known peace.

FREDERICK POLLACK is author of two book-length narrative poems, THE ADVENTURE and HAPPINESS (Story Line Press; the former reissued 2022 by Red Hen Press), and three collections, A POVERTY OF WORDS (Prolific Press, 2015), LANDSCAPE WITH MUTANT (Smokestack Books, UK, 2018), and THE BEAUTIFUL LOSSES (Better Than Starbucks Books, September 2023). Many other poems in print and online journals (Poetrybay 2019).