The A1 Verse: Victory Day
By Thomas Gaulkin | May 9, 2022
Tanks outside the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War, Kyiv.
Every so often, stories published on the front page of the New York Times are so well written, meaningful, and appropriate to the Bulletin’s concerns that small snippets of them, properly chosen and arranged, produce something more than journalism, something that approaches … poetry. That blessed coincidence occurred May 9, 2022.
We suspect it’ll occur again.
Rivals, Remembering World War II Victory, Harden Over Ukraine
(from the originals by Anton Troianovski and Roger Cohen)
On a day of oration of the end of War,
War was small and War was thin,
but marked by posturing, somehow big.
Men ramped up rhetoric,
and Leaders vowed to mark their victory
over remembering triumph.
Love (unjustifiable and little pursued)
orchestrated something different,
orchestrated a show of lost empire
(called The Devastation of World)
to shame the parade of War…
A solemn procession of people
with portraits that celebrate the Sky,
and put on display the shared World.
War appeared to signal back,
determined to double down.
Together, we make the world safer.
The Bulletin elevates expert voices above the noise. But as an independent nonprofit organization, our operations depend on the support of readers like you. Help us continue to deliver quality journalism that holds leaders accountable. Your support of our work at any level is important. In return, we promise our coverage will be understandable, influential, vigilant, solution-oriented, and fair-minded. Together we can make a difference.
Keywords: Europe, Russia, The A1 Verse, Ukraine, Victory Day, poetry, war
Topics: Special Topics
Get alerts about this thread
0 Comments
Oldest
Thomas Gaulkin
Thomas Gaulkin is multimedia editor at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Prior to joining the Bulletin in 2018, he spent the... Read More
