The Cartoon & Poem Supplement

"PANIC BUTTON"

Poems:

“The Age of Miracle Weapons” by D. Nurkse: Crucial backstory here is that Nurkse’s father is a famous economist who advocated for large-scale investment in underdeveloped countries – so it’s not just some metaphorical father in that “office tower”, looking both skeptically and maybe lovingly on his son’s acts of protest. There’s a strange drift toward the past that envelops the poem along with the father’s monologue until in the end we aren’t sure where we are… it’s fairly effective. The gestures toward nuclear disarmament can’t help but feel like a (too) sly reference toward the Palestinian protests and the threats made by Israeli politicians including Amichai Eliyahu, but that could perhaps be coincidental. I enjoy the personal/political blurring, even as I find the unwillingness to be direct a bit frustrating when it comes to these matters.