ManicDDaily

One Scene in Kiev ICU

I see a video of a family in a Kiev ICU, after
having been shot
by Russian soldiers, after having been told
by a Russian soldier
that it was safe to cross
some corridor,

the teen daughter especially wounded
because of throwing herself on top
of her little brother,

but what is perhaps
most remarkable about this particular video—well, the daughter, the entire
family—is also the laughter in the room
that happens when they are visited
by Zelensky—there are certainly also tears
in all corners,
but together they laugh at some small  joke.

Zelensky triggers it, with a smile that you know he must
enforce on himself, though it seems unforced—one can’t help but think
of the discipline that smile takes, even as it works, 
expanding onto all the other faces in the room, like the swell
of a wave
or heart. 

And when he gives the girl an armful of white flowers—
he somehow manages to extend the bouquet in a way that says—“this
is for you,
I know it is not enough,
that it might seem trivial
in the face
of your suffering—“ 

And yet that silent admission, that near embarrassment,
somehow untrivializes
the flowers,
boosts them into the gallery
of meaningful gestures, the long history
of homage—the flowers, already so beautiful—

how do they still have flowers like that, I wonder,
with all going on; how do people still
make such flowers happen–

***********************************

A bit of a wierd draft poem about the civilian casualties in Ukraine, and a visit by Zelensky to the ICU.

This entry was posted on March 19, 2022 at 1:51 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.