{"product_id":"hiddjad","title":"Hidden, by John A. deSouza","description":"\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003ePoetry, chapbook, 32 pages, from \u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b00ff;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/bottlecap.press\/collections\/bottlecap-features\" style=\"color: #2b00ff;\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eBottlecap Features\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003eThe conflict in Ukraine drags on, with over ten years of war and over three years of full-scale invasion by Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Written in the early months of 2025, the 12-poem sequence that comprises deSouza’s \u003cem\u003eHidden\u003c\/em\u003e offers varied approaches to finding meaning in the midst of the tragic violence. With passages like: ‘the metal\/flail of war,\/the thrust and stab of love. Bullets torn flesh cannot hurt this’ deSouza sets out what remains of value against the backdrop of cruelty, lies and political posturing. The truth will out, and deSouza’s poems suggest there is more at stake and more ways to fight and resist then what media outlets and some politicians might have us believe.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e“John A. deSouza’s \u003cem\u003eHidden\u003c\/em\u003e is a powerful exploration of the nexus of history and personal experience in shaping the identities of those living in Ukraine and other nations where the exercise of authoritarian cruelty over citizens contributes to both defensiveness and a fierce assertiveness in those affected. deSouza is a compassionate writer, fully aware of the long history of oppression in the middle European nations that have been battlegrounds, as sites of environmental disaster (Chernobyl), mass murder (of Cossacks, the Holodomor famine, Babi Yar, Auschwitz, gulags, and the horrors of Putin’s war on Ukraine), but also the enduring strength of individuals, ‘like the old woman’s prayer \/ for an end to suffering, seated at a table at the center \/ of a house without walls.’\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003eThe book is punctuated by Ukrainian terms and historical references that can be challenging to those with only a casual grasp of history, as in the reference to Dresden in the opening poem—not the carpet bombing inflicted by the allies in World War II, but the fact that when the young KGB Colonel Vladimir Putin requested armored support for suppressing civilians when they stormed the local Stasi headquarters after the fall of the Berlin Wall was told: ‘Moscow is silent...’ The poems herein benefit from an understanding of the history involved, and will reward those who unravel the references and place them with the identities of those victims struggling to be free.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e—David Cope, award-winning poet, editor of \u003cem\u003eThe Correspondence of David Cope \u0026amp; Allen Ginsberg 1976-1996\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003eJohn A. deSouza resides in Jersey City, NJ with his partner, Oksana, and their terrier, Mr. Darcy. John studied English Literature at the University of Toronto and works with online information. His poetry has been published in \u003cem\u003eThe Writing Disorder\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eWayWords\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eApricity Press\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003ethe engine(idling\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThe Orchards Poetry Journal\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eAll Existing Literary Review\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eHalf Eaten Mouth\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eDavid Cope’s Big Scream Magazine\u003c\/em\u003e, and has been translated in China in \u003cem\u003eNew World Poetry\u003c\/em\u003e. His as yet unpublished collection, \u003cem\u003eUnimaginable Hardship, poems for Ukraine based on Goya’s Disasters of War\u003c\/em\u003e, was recently short-listed for the Letter Review Prize (2024). John’s wife's family is Ukrainian or of strongly traditional Canadian-Ukrainian background.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"John A. deSouza","offers":[{"title":"Chapbook","offer_id":50214313034043,"sku":"HIDDJAD","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (PDF)","offer_id":50214313066811,"sku":"HIDDJADe","price":7.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0062\/4420\/4614\/files\/Hidden3front.png?v=1744579764","url":"https:\/\/bottlecap.press\/products\/hiddjad","provider":"Bottlecap Press","version":"1.0","type":"link"}