Five Poems by Gerard Sarnat

PERSIA, YOU ARE/ WERE ONE OF OUR WORLD’S OLDEST CONTINUOUS MAJOR CIVILIZATIONS [v++]

i.tanka [while Jared campaigns for father-in-law Nobel Peace Prize
during negotiations at Omani diplomatic Lake Geneva residence]

most Prezs would stage next Iran war so Israel 
attacks first (home front 
PR much better) -- but Trump 
wanna hog all gore glory?

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/27/world/middleeast/us-embassy-jerusalem-authorized-departure.html

ii.tanka [Democracy ding dong…]

…son of a bitch dead.
Now what? More or less stable?
Back to the future 
Shah’s son? Ah maybe one of 
oy vey Ayatollah’s boys? 
 

iii.tanka [1March26: home sweet home’s 
adumbration insecurity trifecta]

Iran sleeper cells —
Great Satan embeds — fret risk 
Silicon Valley
+ San Andreas Earthquake fault, 
wildfire epicenter threat
iv.haiku [my Prez’s stench too singularly
opaque, our half-ass glass darkly?]

they can’t resist though
their woke pronoun knows won’t
get away with shit

https://open.substack.com/pub/robertreich/p/sunday-thought-the-mounting-costs

v.tanka[World’s Shiite Muslims,
“We Are Orphans!”]

Operation Black
Sparrow — most planes since Six Day
War — morn surprise not 
past nights — wily Supremo
dies martyr — ‘steada strung up?



Eighty-year-old late-phase often graphic chronicler arrived in seventh decade, aphorist, humorist or sometimes meanderist; Gerard Sarnat’s a multiple prize winner plus Pushcart/Best of Net Award nominee who also has been invited to serve as judge for competitions. Activism Through Poetry: How Gerard Sarnat Uses Verse as a Form of Protest is a 2025 retrospective: https://culterateblog.wordpress.com/2025/02/20/activism-through-poetry-how-gerard-sarnat-uses-verse-as-a-form-of-protest/. Currently, he’s devoting energy and resources dealing with climate justice, serving on Climate Action Now’s board. Sarnat’s belonged to the longest-running U.S. Jewish-Palestinian Dialogue Group. Gerry’s been married since 1969 and has three kids, seven grandsons — and looks forward to future granddaughters. gerardsarnat.com