What Is Peace? And Other Poems

Appearing in mostly chronological order, What is Peace? And Other Poems opens with "Despair" written in 1969-amidst the Vietnam War, social unrest, and environmental crisis-and closes with "What Is Peace?" written in 2004 after years of wars, soaring CO2 emissions, and conservative economic policies intensifying inequality. During the three decades in between, Leonore Arvidson's poems reflect the contexts of the times in post-World War II Los Angeles, with humor, sadness, anger, and style. Until now only four of her poems have been published. This volume presents the complete collected works by Leonore Arvidson. We, her children, offer them (with anecdotes about their contexts in the afterword) to you, the reader, to interpret and enjoy.