1973

Almost the entirety of this section in Politica was written in Parramatta Park during lockdowns.

 I would get a takeaway coffee from a nearby café and then retreat to the Rumsey Rose Garden. On an empty bench, I’d write the stories of Salma and the five-decade fallout from a conflict that was bloodiest in 1973.

 Lebanon’s civil war has the dates of 1975 to 1990, but to my mind the war never ended because the country has not achieved a long stretch of peace, partly given the hostility to the south.

 Rather than tie Politica to Lebanon’s history, I blurred Arab borders to have an imaginary region so that stories could go where they needed to go.

 1973 was chosen as the title for this section to reference the coup that installed the dictator Pinochet in Chile, another one involving our American friends.