John A. deSouza
How to measure grief
For Anastasia Shvets of Ukraine
(a Tryzub Stanza)
Disaster is what obliterates your kitchen
after months of waiting in knowing disbelief.
An opening that sucks up into a new religion
of emptiness where your parents vanished into a brief
break after you laughed at your Tato's silly jokes,
delivered daily to fill the gap of your lover's loss at 23.
A frilly gold holiday decoration and a stuffy clutched,
wide-eyed with all your life's plans forgotten,
perched over the 8-story gap of your impossible grief.
Bio
John A. deSouza lives in Jersey City, NJ with his wife, Oksana, and their terrier, Mr. Darcy. His chapbook, 'Hidden', was published by Bottlecap Press (2025). His book, 'Unimaginable Hardship' (poems for Ukraine) was short-listed for the Letter Review Prize for books (2024). He has been/will be published in: 'The Writing Disorder', 'the engine(idling', 'Neologism', 'WayWords', 'Apricity Press', 'The Orchards', 'All Existing Literary Review', 'Half-Eaten Mouth', 'Big Scream Magazine' and others. His poetry has been translated in China in 'New World Poetry'. John's wife's family is Ukrainian.