John, the World’s Foremost Expert on Nuclear Strategy

for Marissa

John, the world’s foremost expert on nuclear strategy, whispers workplace advice to me through the wall we share. He babbles on from his side, where he is quite important in the world, too important to share a wall with me. He pontificates — for that is what foremost experts do when they speak — on the virtues of second strike capacity, on revenge and retaliation. When I listen, I think not so much about the warheads but about him, about what he cooked last night. What to cook when one is the foremost expert on nuclear strategy. Likely brisket, something meaty, something hot. When he goes to bed, John, the world’s foremost expert on nuclear strategy, knocks on the wall we share. He says goodnight, orders sweet dreams.

ξ

Evan Williams is a poet and essayist in the cornfields of the Midwest. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in DIAGRAM, Pleiades, Passages North, and elsewhere. He is the author of CLAUSTROPHOBIA, SURPRISE! (HAD Chaps, 2022) and a founding member of the journal, Obliterat. He can be found on Twitter @evansquilliams.