we've held our breath

through seven hundred pandemic days
waiting to awaken into normal

but this morning
images careen across the screen
tanks thunder through streets
seven hundred thousand flee from the beast
mouths agape in silent scream

a continent away
my students cautiously approach me
and ask in a hush

Madame
will the world erupt 
in war again?

Return to Journal

a pearl in this diamond world …  Josephine LoRe’s words have been read on stage and in global zoom-rooms, published in literary journals and anthologies in eleven countries and four languages, put to music, danced, and integrated into visual art. She has two collections, Unity and the Calgary Herald Bestseller, The Cowichan Series. She is a member of the League of Canadian Poets and numerous virtual and in-person poetry societies. Josephine is grateful to live and create on land traditionally inhabited and traversed for centuries by the Piikani, Siksika, Kainai, Tsuut’ina and Nakota peoples, their antecedents, and their descendants. 

https://www.josephinelorepoet.com/ 

WordCity Literary Journal is provided free to readers from all around the world, and there is no cost to writers submitting their work. Substantial time and expertise goes into each issue, and if you would like to contribute to those efforts, and the costs associated with maintaining this site, we thank you for your support.