I have been watching the news from Boston with great interest.  My interest has forced me to forgo other things like writing comments to your works, but I am compelled to follow what is happening.

Two strange coincidences have come out of this.  First, while writing my novel, War's End, I felt compelled to bring in the plight of the Muslim nation Chechnya and its conflict with Russia and the rest of the world.  My heroine, a Serbian immigrant and a mole for the United States, Dina, goes to the country in chapter 17: The Chechnyan Connection.

As events unfold, the two terrorist Chechnyan perpetrators of this terrible act of bombing the Boston Marathon, described by their uncle as, “losers,” are becoming more and more like described in my most read poem, Alienation.  You can read that poem again below:

 If you know someone who is alienated, tried to befriend them and bring them out.  If you can't do that and you suspect there's any possibility that they would harm someone in their despair, please report them to the local authorities before it's too late.