By Sam Culotta
In the early morning quiet before the sporadic rain of bombs, do birds sing, do dogs bark in Kharkiv? Do school bells ring in Donetsk, have the song thrushes gone? Is there a nuthatch to be heard in Luhansk?
The quiet is hopeful but heavy with dread. Dogs wander free searching for food and drink, cats turn feral. Do the gleeful peals of children's laughter ring out as they did once? How long since there were butterflies around the plants and flowers? Perhaps today someone saw a large swallowtail touch-down take its fill then spread its feathery wings and dance off in the morning breeze. Usually a good and hopeful indicator that nature is working as it should. And I hope that wherever the thrushes, nuthatches, dogs and children are in war-torn Ukraine, they will outlive the killing and destruction. One day in the near future they will find safety has returned and despite the terrible losses visited on their homeland, they will resume being innocent and indispensable. How could it possibly be otherwise?
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Sam Culotta resides in Southern California. He is the author of two collections of personal essays: Sleeping With Lumbago and Clueless In Paradise, and James Dean Is Dead, new and collected poems. His work has appeared in Rockvale Review, Cathexis Northwest Press, Avalon Literary Review and As It Ought To Be, among others. Samples of his poetry appear in narrated videos at his YouTube channel, “Sam Culotta.”