Volume 15.2

Letter from the Editors

Dear Reader,

So many people need our support right now. With wars going on in the Middle East, Ukraine, Myanmar, and Sudan (among other places), there are countless individuals and communities who need us to help them in any way we can. This help can come in a myriad of forms such as donating money, clothes, or food; volunteering at a charity or NGO; engaging with your political representatives; or better educating yourself in order to become an advocate and help stop the deluge of misinformation.

At Consequence, we whole-heartedly believe that raising awareness and helping people inform themselves is a critical part of the support process—whether that be for an individual, a community, or a country —and is why we are eager to share with you the reflective and moving prose, poetry, and art within these pages.

Inside you’ll find works from authors and artists from around the world who offer hard-won truths and insights into the realities of war and geopolitical violence. These realities include a young transgender man making sense of his father’s experiences while fighting in Korea (“Korea, No Belt”), the multiple perspectives surrounding US soldiers being spit on when returning from Vietnam (“Spit and Spin: Rival ‘Memory Narratives’ of Veteran Abuse”), and the history of a country as revealed to a young woman by anonymous, pre-WWII photographs (“A Discussion with Ana Prundaru”).

You’ll also find works that address the ways we express these realities in the latest installation of our “What is War Poetry?” series. In our first installations, we focused on these expressions via The Iliad and the Bhagavad Gita. In this iteration, we explore these depictions through a different lens, through texts and ideas that could be construed as antiwar.

Every single poem, story, essay, translation, and visual art piece in this volume is a means to help all of us heighten our awareness around these specific conflicts and conflict in general. It’s a first step in providing the necessary support to those the world over who are affected by these devastating events.

Sincerely,
The Editors