The Brooklyn Rail

Catalog of what we attempt to survive—

The wars in our skin
The wars in our minds
The wars on our screens
The wars launched
in the name of love
The wars against which
we clenched our fists
The wars for which
we bloodied our hands
The wars against fascism
The wars against democracy
The wars against drugs
The war for drugs
we could afford
The wars for our bodies
The wars in our schools
The wars
taking our children hostage
The wars our children
are fighting with themselves
The wars against hunger
The wars in which we starve
our enemies and their children
The silent wars
The corporate wars
The financial wars
The CIA-funded wars
The underfunded wars
The guerilla wars
The genocidal wars
The gender wars
The ideological wars
The wars so ancient
we misremember their origins
The wars so invisible
we are blind
to their waging
The wars ravaging our planet
The wars to save our planet
The wars against our extinction
The wars that will bring it,
inevitably,
upon us.