Vol. 5 No. 2 (2026): June CJMS
Editor’s Note
My garden has awakened from its winter slumbers. The tulips and lilacs have come and gone, but now there are lavender, peonies, Dutch iris, and roses, and roses, and roses! Even the yucca plant has had a baby! Welcome to the summer issue of our Journal; we hope it arrives with warmth and finds you in good spirits.
Professor Edward Raupp has given us an article entitled Kill the Prisoners: Shakespeare's Henry V at Agincourt, Just War Theory, and the End of Chivalry. He casts a new eye on the question of whether Henrry V is a true hero, or not. Surely anyone who has read, or read about Shakespeare’s history play, with King Henry’s stirring “band of brothers” speech to his men, could easily come away thinking of him as heroic. But Edward delves more deeply into the actions of the King and comes up with a different perspective.
Eter Churadze introduces us to yet another Georgian poet; there seem to be an endless supply of them! Valerian Gaprindashvili was renowned for his Symbolist poetry, and he played an important role in the development of Georgian poetic culture, especially in the development of metaphor and versification. His poetry was often infused with hopelessness and futility. A Sentimental Triolet is a short, structured French poetic form in which he reveals this sense of sorrow.
In our Poetry section, Adegoke Adeola, a young Nigerian poet, expresses a similar theme. In the geometry of emptiness he asks, “Help me understand people who long for emptiness, the ones who find peace in nothingness.”
Our final contribution is again from Professor Raupp, a Book Review of a short book entitled Reflections on Happiness & Positivity written by the current ruler of the United Arab Republic, Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Notwithstanding the fact that their government is an autocracy and there are many controversies regarding the Sheikh, there is no question that his progressive views have made Dubai a global city. We have vacationed in Dubai for the past four years; it is a beautiful city, and we are saddened by the recent bombings which have been precipitated by the actions of the U.S. President. There are times when it is not possible to sanction the actions of our own government; for us, this is one of those times.
We thank each of our contributors to our summer issue and hope you will enjoy their creative efforts. Please consider joining them in a future issue.
Warm regards,
Danna Raupp
Editor-in-Chief
