Fighting Words: Peace and All Good

                             for mina gorji


Heard through a cedar tree before, 

her words through other boughs, 

cypresses now.


Everything is planned

and a surprise.


Imagine a bequest

promoting tenderness.


Branch becomes violin bow,

what was harsh becoming flexible, 

drawing on tension.


Mina, through cypresses.

Blue princess lines.

Dress of breath

of cedars.


She dreams a fellow for each fellow. 

To each, a fanged Chihuahua.


Our need for tenderness

and their need

for tending

according

and their sharpness,

magnificence,

smallness.


Dream of a companion language

lapping paneled and lapelled

institutions, their Brittany-spanieling tongues.


This poem is part of a series. Click here to read “Fighting Words: Tea Fever,” here to read “Fighting Words: Arrivals,” and here to read “Fighting Words: Broken Heating.”

Anthony Vahni Capildeo is a Trinidadian Scottish writer of poetry and nonfiction. They are a writer in residence and professor at the University of York.
Originally published:
September 8, 2025

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