|
Comment on this article |
View comments |
Email this Feature
|
|
Announcement :: Peace |
|
Attention Newspoets |
Current rating: 0 |
by sam hamill via gehrig
(No verified email address) |
28 Jan 2003
|
Call to Newspoets to protest a February reception for poets in the White House by collecing poems against the impending invasion of Iraq.
When I picked up my mail and saw the letter marked "The White House," I felt no joy. Rather I was overcome by a kind nausea as I read the card enclosed:
Laura Bush
requests the pleasure of your company
at a reception and
White House Symposium on
"Poetry and the American Voice"
on Wednesday, February 12, 2003
at one o'clock |
January 19, 2003
Dear Friends and Fellow Poets:
When I picked up my mail and saw the letter marked "The White House," I felt no joy. Rather I was overcome by a kind nausea as I read the card enclosed:
Laura Bush
requests the pleasure of your company
at a reception and
White House Symposium on
"Poetry and the American Voice"
on Wednesday, February 12, 2003
at one o'clock
Only the day before I had read a lengthy report on the President's proposed "Shock and Awe" attack on Iraq, calling for saturation bombing that would be like the firebombing of Dresden or Tokyo, killing countless innocent civilians.
I believe the only legitimate response to such a morally bankrupt and unconscionable idea is to reconstitute a Poets Against the War movement like the one organized to speak out against the war in Vietnam.
I am asking every poet to speak up for the conscience of our country and lend his or her name to our petition against this war, and to make February 12 a day of Poetry Against the War. We will compile an anthology of protest to be presented to the White House on that afternoon.
Please submit your name and a poem or statement of conscience to: kokua (at) olympus.net
There is little time to organize and compile. I urge you to pass along this letter to any poets you know. Please join me in making February 12 a day when the White House can truly hear the voices of American poets.
Sam Hamill
---
@%< |
Comments
|
Re: Attention Newspoets |
by Newton Bigelow
nbigelow (nospam) newtonbigelow.com (unverified) |
Current rating: -1
28 Jan 2003
|
27 January 2003
Good Afternoon,
I'm writing today in a foul, black mood. My country wants to go
to war, and at this point I see very little hope that it can be avoided.
Colin Powell's comments in Davos yesterday have extinguished any
hope I had that the Bush Administration might be dissuaded from seeking
a military solution in Iraq. Whether he personally supports an invasion
or not, Powell clearly believes that his duty is to follow his President's
lead. Though I hate saying it, it seems very likely that Bush will
announce the beginning of military strikes in his speech tomorrow.
Most of my friends and neighbors here in Madrid have been telling
me for months that this thing was inevitable. Nobody has any illusions
about Bush's motives, either. Mention the "War on terrorism" or
"freeing the Iraqis from the tyrannical rule of Saddam Hussein" and
people will laugh in your face. This is the country where General
Franco lived a long, happy life as a fascist dictator, while the
rest of the Western World turned a blind eye. People here tend to
be little suspicious when they're told about the war between "good"
and "evil".
No, we know what this is about, and we have from the start. It's
about controlling the oil supply. The world is using up its oil
reserves at a staggering rate, and someday there just ain't gonna
be any left. In the meantime, though, Bush and his masters in the
oil industry see Saddam Hussein sitting on the second-largest oilfield
in the world, and think, "that boy's got to go". Oil is the largest
industry in the world, bar none. Why wouldn't we fight a war for
it? We've fought wars over bananas, for God's sake.
So, what do we do with this? It's going to happen, despite the protests,
despite the marches and petitions. Despite the objections of nearly
everybody in the international community. Bombs and guns against
the very real flesh of Iraqi citizens who will be placed as a shield
between the Americans and Saddam Hussein. Dead children, again. The
tortured and the maimed, again. The whole thing packaged as 'Reality
TV' with all the nasty bits edited out.
So what do we do? For myself, I feel that the worst possible action
is to quietly accept this obscenity. I want it known that I do
not go along with this insane policy, and I will not support George
Bush in his criminal actions. So I am going to continue to write
letters, to sign petitions, to go to marches, and to loudly and publicly
proclaim my opposition to this war. We may not be able to stop it,
but we sure as hell don't have to endorse it.
What you do is a matter of personal choice, but I encourage anyone
who has not yet taken a stand against this war to do so loudly and
unswervingly. Make it known that the President does not represent
your interests in this matter.
Do not let the bastards claim that they are doing this in our name.
Best regards,
Newton
|
|
Screaming Piece |
by Editor-Within-Chief
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
28 Jan 2003
|
I've got Colin Powell by the lapel
Do you have any idea what you're doing
It's a rhetorical question
There are no right hands for weapons
of mass
destruction
You're an American too, right?
Right? Answer me, you bastard
Americans don't understand mass destruction
only the destruction of
the nuclear family, as in,
look, little Timmy's head got blown off by a laser-guided missile or
hey, Mom's torso got shredded by a depleted uranium artillery shell or
fuck, my brother's shoulder was shattered by a cluster bomb
This poem is being hung up on, is
not invited to speak on campus is
hate speech is
tasteless
Meanwhile Powell is on his back and papers
from his briefcase are
everywhere
It is that brief time before the men in the black suits descend on me
You are a criminal a murderer
I dare you to kill a person with your own hands for
oil interests for markets for getting re-elected for
appointing judges for passing tax cuts for money for
exploitation for capitalism for slavery
(cf. Belafonte)
Oh, you want to know why,
Mr. Powell, you dare to ask me why?
I'm acting alone, because I am willing to do that
if necessary. I and my coalition
of the willing |
|
Re: Attention Newspoets |
by Robert Porter
bwp61 (nospam) ix.netcom.com (verified) |
Current rating: 0
30 Jan 2003
Modified: 10:52:42 AM |
Well. it looks like Laura Bush got wind of this idea and decided to "postpone" the symposium. Her spokesperson says she was afraid of the possibility of the event becoming "politicized". This is an odd statement, considering that they were set to discuss the work of Emily Dickenson, Langston Hughes, and Walt Whitman. Not exactly an apolitical selection.
The story can be found on commondreams.org:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0130-03.htm
Sam Hamill, who posted the original call for poetry, says he's recieved over 1,500 submissions.
Those who feel inspired to write poems or make other art about this subject should not be discouraged from doing so. Post them here, or send them to Sam Hamill at:
kokua (at) olympus.net
Or, here's a thought -- send them to Laura Bush:
The White House
attn: First Lady
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Let's remind our First Lady that divorcing art from politics is an artificial construction. |
|
Re: Attention Newspoets |
by Bill Fitts
bill.fitts (nospam) attbi.com (verified) |
Current rating: 0
31 Jan 2003
|
The Damned
The young man blew himself apart
And 50 innocents died
His father said that it was God’s will
And he will be honored
My father said no God would will this
And he is forever damned
The young man dropped a bomb
And 1000 innocents died
His father said that it was genocide
And he is forever damned
My father said it’s for God and country
And he will be honored
What does your father say?
What do you say?
|
|
State Of The Union Haiku |
by Ahawksas.
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
03 Feb 2003
|
While the media
perform patriotism,
viewers are skeptics.
|
|
Re: Attention Newspoets |
by Virginia Leinart
vleinart (nospam) tenforward.com (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
08 Feb 2003
|
Dear Peninsula Daily News editorial staff:
Thank you for considering my hasty shot at a Poem for Peace. Virginia Leinart
A Peace There Is
Dedicated to the children of Port Angeles who serve in our nation's military:
Jessica Parks, Michael Schaad, Greg Dotson, Jesse Edwards, Andy Davidson, and many others
Over the years we've come to know,
As we stay home
And soldiers go,
Peace comes at a price.
It's not the same as
Safety: playing the tyrant's game.
Peace comes at a price.
It has a fee:
Jesse, Greg, Jessica,
Michael, Andy --
Beloved children who choose to go,
Beloved children whose families know
Peace comes at a price.
Someone must pay.
The willing soldiers march away
Directly to the tyrant's land.
They know that by the tyrant's hand
Their lives might pay for you and me.
While activists in assembly
Chant "Peace! No War!"
Meantime, Saddam
Murders all who in his land
Would demonstrate against his plan.
He kills his own, they cannot speak
As you who protest on our streets.
Your freedoms are not lightly won
Nor lightly guarded. I was among
Your crowd and rallied once for peace;
I exercised freedom of speech.
But two things I have come to know
In recent years. The first is though
We think we're safe, the bodies fell
From buildings in a New York hell.
I woke up from my fantasy:
Evil is real -- in you and me.
Unless we learn what seemed uncouth --
There really is absolute truth --
The second thing we'll never know,
Spoken by Jesus long ago:
Peace I leave with you,
My peace I give to you;
Not as the world gives
Do I give to you.
A peace there is we cannot bring,
No, not one inch toward the thing
By chanting slogans: lullabies
To Saddam and his dark allies.
A peace there is --
Now, let us pray.
God save our children far away.
God keep our nation safe from harm
Until our enemies disarm.
Amen
By Virginia Leinart
Port Angeles, Washington, USA
|
|
