AUTHOR NARRATION
Hear the poem.
Read by the author in the original English.
War & PeaceEnglish narration
POEM + PLACE + FLIGHT
War & Peace
TWO PASSINGS AT THE SAME DOOR
war / peace
A jet rips across the sky; later, a monarch sails past the same glass door. Choose War or Peace to set the flight, then move your cursor across the image to see the same place reimagined.
THE FLIGHT OF
WHERE THE POEM WAS WRITTEN
Hillcrest, San Diego
“War & Peace” was written in Hillcrest, the San Diego neighborhood just north of Balboa Park.
AN ERROR IN THE ENGLISH EDITION
I Didn’t Know
I mistakenly printed “Blue Devil” when the aerobatic team I meant to name was the Blue Angels.
ORIGINAL TEXT
& spotted the Blue Devil stamped on a cloud
CORRECTED TEXT
& spotted the Blue Angel stamped on a cloud
WHAT I DIDN’T KNOW
I was describing the Blue Angels, the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron whose jets I had seen overhead in San Diego. In the published poem, I mistakenly called them the Blue Devils. The Blue Devils were a different, historical Canadian aerobatic team; the name I intended was Blue Angels.
AN AEROBATIC TEAM
The Blue Angels
The Blue Angels are the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps flight demonstration squadron, known for exceptionally tight formations and precision maneuvers.
This video released by the U.S. Navy shows the squadron’s aircraft performing formation maneuvers.
Learn more at the official Blue Angels website.
THE POEM’S POINT OF VIEW
The Same Glass Door
MEDIA PLACEHOLDERThe poem’s glass door
/media/war-and-peace/same-glass-door.webpThe poem’s glass door
The threshold between the bedroom and the Hillcrest sky.
This door opened directly from my bedroom. I went through it to look up at the jet planes crossing the sky; later, from the same room and through the same glass, I watched a monarch butterfly fly past.
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