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The Calm

The pit or the pendulum,
the rifle or the bayonet,
the choice of pyre or pyre—
it’s all the same to me,
only the flame or the fire.
Just let me past
that suffocating silence,
the pregnant calm
before the coming storm,
the hair-raising static
or incandescent terror
before the lighting strike.
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Ethan McGuire is a writer and healthcare cybersecurity professional whose essays, fiction, poetry, reviews, song lyrics, and translations have appeared in Blue Unicorn, The Dispatch, Emerald Coast Review, Literary Matters, The New Verse News, The University Bookman, Voegelin View, and many other publications. Ethan is a contributing editor at New Verse Review and the author of two poetry chapbooks, Before Apokalypto and Songs for Christmas. His debut book-length poetry collection, Apocalypse Dance, will be released in 2025 by Wipf & Stock. Ethan grew up in the Missouri Ozarks, lived in the Florida Panhandle on the Gulf of Mexico for twelve years, and is currently settled in Fort Wayne, Indiana with his wife and their children. To find Ethan, visit his website TheFlummoxed.com.

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