February 27, 2022

nice people do not notice this transformation all at once

It is / would be Carnival in Trinidad.

Tabanca.

It is / did it have to be war in Europe.

What emotion do I describe here? Which of them?

I defer to the people doing the work of dealing with the reality of the now: https://razomforukraine.org/

When a country of — overall — nice people
turns — slowly — fascist,
nice people do not notice this transformation all at once.

As when a person we know intimately
goes, next to us, through
an imperceptible process of aging. Imperceptibly, new wrinkles
slice the skin, frightening, deep.

Nice people nod when they run into each other,
and try, more and more, to lower their eyes,
until finally, raising them becomes an inhuman gesture.
—When a country of — overall — nice people by Lyudmyla Khersonska