The Arc of the Moral Universe is Long and Bends Toward Conflation

This poem was inspired by reflection on the commonalities between civilian casualties of war and those bereaved by suicide. The use of white space in the poem symbolizes the threshold encountered after the sudden death of a loved one, particularly when violence, especially self-directed violence, is involved. The speaker cannot find meaning in so much death, and movement away from the right margin, the anchor of loss, is disorienting and dissociating. The speaker of the poem is frozen the threshold, unable to flee; much like civilians in war zones, very much like those experiencing posttraumatic stress.