When First Lady Laura Bush decided to host a literary salon on February 12 about “Poetry and the American Voice,” she invited the nation’s leading poets to come to the White House for some elegant chit-chat on the works of Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes and Walt Whitman. The sleepy, grant-fed American poetry establishment, well-conditioned to sing for its supper and keep… return to article
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Reader Comments (17)Page 1 of 1 pagesSo it is concluded:
Rough-fronted war mounts his barbed steed and awaits his orders
From one more terrible than Richard III.Bush will be the bristled swine
That will eat Iraqi children
And plunge us once again
Into a hundred years’ war.
Posted by Charles M. Ashley on Feb 16, 2003 at 8:21 AM Duct Tape
This is all about
Duct Tape.There is an international cartel
That makes Duct Tape.They are linked to the oil industry
And use polylmers to make their vile product.Then they hire governments to market the fear
Military hypocondriaBut itís all about Duct Tape
They want you to buy it so they can make more.Itís all about Duct Tape
Not terror or oil or war.If everybody seals their house up
(with Duct Tape) weíll be safe.Itís All About Duct Tape.
——————-
visit Lightning Rod World Headquarters at:
www.stormpages.com/gitdown
Posted by Lightning Rod on Feb 16, 2003 at 11:05 PM this is a wonderful thing Sam Hamill has done, creating this website, uniting the voices of poets to speak against the insanity of this impending war. i don’t know, at this point, what, if anything, can stop it, unfortunately, but i’m hoping that the huge turn out for demonstrations against the war all over the world on the 15th, along with efforts like this, will have some impact. i was proud to add my voice to the site. here’s one of the pieces i posted there.
—————————-
a state of confusion abounds
a state of confusion surrounds
there are sounds of the sighs of surrender,
the american people lying down, giving
away rights without an eye blink,
relenquishing their right to think
for themselves, watching unconstitutional
power persist, allowing themselves to be
convinced there is an evil element,
an evil contingent, marketing madness
on cbs news, nbc’s filming fat teenagers
standing in bread lines
just to convince us
just to convince usthere are madmen out there
there are madmen out there
and they are here, right here,
plotting a scheme to control territory,
backed by weapons of mass destruction
why is it, america? why?
tell me why you are the world police?
tell me why you can decide who must disarm?
tell me with the charm of a saint who never erred.
tell me why you dare to occupy land which you don’t own?
tell me, who put you on the throne?
who made you omnipotent?there is imperialistic greed.
and my seed of doubt is growing leaves.
what happened to laissez faire?
what happened to respect and tolerance?
why doesn’t america demand
america to disarm?there is a state of confusion.
there is a state of confusion.
blind people lying down dead
not able to raise their head
to speak out.stand up and shout, people with minds!
this is the time for it, this is the time.
if you don’t stand up this time,
you may never be able to rise
again. you may never be able
to rise again, you may never
be able to rise.-doreen peri
Posted by doreen peri on Feb 17, 2003 at 1:08 AM An excellent story. Keep it up, and I might even subscribe!
Like many other poets, I submitted two poems within days of learning of the site, read one of them on The Day, and joined the Peace Rally and march on the 15th.
Thank you for including four of the many excellent poems presented to Sam Hamill’s web site.
Posted by Robert B Godwin on Feb 17, 2003 at 4:26 AM It’s good to have words
of distrust come from the pens
of seekers of truth
and beauty
its hard to turn towards that which
frightens, easier to rush headlong
into that which comforts and warms and heals. Poets and readers all
must fight this nemesis
of reason in any way we can.
Posted by Jeffrey Richardson on Feb 17, 2003 at 6:52 AM Again the bard is oracle and spokeman;this time in a democracy which choses to silence its people
Posted by leQuita Vance-Watkins on Feb 17, 2003 at 2:49 PM thank you for your work and for this feature
Posted by allison hedge coke on Feb 17, 2003 at 6:00 PM My response: http://www.fglaysher.com/NYTpr.htm
In predictable fashion The New York Times Book Review and much
of the media have chosen to support the more radical and supposedly
“enlightened” viewpoint on the tiff with The White House and Laura Bush.A more misguided and wrong-headed response could
not exist. It’s so fraught with cliches I hardly know where to start.
In general, it’s a pity that Sam Hamill, and others who think like
him, demonstrate once again that poetry, as defined by them
at least, indeed doesn’t matter, so complete is their inability
to think seriously about the threat represented by Saddam Hussein
and his weapons of mass destruction. Their ridiculous pose of mounting
the barricades is really quite contemptible. It is clear that the crowd
alluded to by Mr. Hamill summons poetry to their own radical
distortions and agendas, achieving only a further marginalization
of an art that has all too often, among some, lost allegiance to
the civilizing values of peace, which require defense never more so
than now.Far from “the conscience of our culture,” such poets have
no sense of history and the deep obligations of our country, to
ourselves and to the world, which the burden of power lays
upon us at this juncture. President Bush is right to call the United
Nations to live up to its founding Charter, to be a common refuge
of defense, “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war,”
not merely consultation, reduced to babel. At this time of national
and international crisis, poets who betray their nation, art, and
humanity merit no audience at The White House.For a different view of the issues involved, I invite your readers
to consider my essay “The Victory of World Governance”:
http://www.fglaysher.com/WorldGov.htmFrederick Glaysher
www.fglaysher.com
Earthrise Press
P. O. Box 81842
Rochester, MI 48308-1842 USA
Posted by Frederick Glaysher on Feb 18, 2003 at 8:57 PM On Sat., Feb. 15, in New York City, my 16-year-old daughter and I followed for a long time a lady with a colorful sign. The sign read “Poets for Peace,” but that isn’t why we followed it. The sign was big and it was colorful and beautifully made. It had balloons and bells attached to it. I was afraid I would loose my daughter in the crush of human bodies. I had read about the poets who had NOT, after all, shared their art with Laura Bush on Feb. 12, and I suppose I was feeling well-disposed toward poets in general. But mostly I liked the sign. Finally the police pulled aside the carrier of the sign to search her satchel, and she did not reappear, and did not and did not. Someone else took up the sign, but the poets waited for their missing member and my daughter and I carried on toward the rally on First Avenue. We had our own signs, though they weren’t beautiful. Because of them we were able to continually find each other, despite the crush on First Avenue, and despite the crush in which we found ourselves, later, at 53rd and Third. Thank you for your column. Thank you for sharing a few poems. I have looked at a dozen or so of the 5000 poems at poetsagainstthewar.org. I wish I had a few years to read them all. Esther L. Clarke, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Posted by Esther Clarke on Feb 19, 2003 at 12:55 AM Can poets’ words prevail ? Not merely against armadas of tanks, helicopters, bombers and missiles—for here precedents exist for the power of words ñ but also against other words, deceitful words mobilised by the servants of the powerful, who seek to reshape the world according to their terrible vision. Our existence hangs in the balanceÖ.
Posted by M. Henri Day on Feb 19, 2003 at 9:54 AM Can you email me a copy of the poem Arthur Miller read on CNN? I have searched everywhere and can not find it. It was great. Thanks
Posted by Rebekah Dambola on Feb 20, 2003 at 6:09 AM This is not about America “terrorizing” and murdering anyone. This is about America protecting itself. This is like when some thief is coming through your bedroom window that has a gun or knife. Or you don’t know if he has a gun or knife because it is too dark. All you know is that you are in danger, and you have to protect yourself. You grab a gun, a broom, a ballbat, or something to defend yourself. You do what you have to to protect yourself and your family. That is what America has to do. We didn’t ask to be in danger. We didn’t ask for September 11th, 2001. We didn’t ask for war. But we have to protect ourself. Just like when a thief is coming through the window.
Posted by Stacey on Feb 26, 2003 at 7:14 PM stacey,
that’s exactly how Brinks sells security alarm systems.
*smile*
i guess you bought it.
Posted by doreen peri on Feb 26, 2003 at 7:39 PM Just proves how ignorant you poets are. Millions more will be hurt if we do not take care of these terrrorists now. Why do want to wait for another 9-11? I am a mother of five and my husband is in the navy reserves waiting to be deployed. Do I want him to go? Of course not, but I can see that if we do not take care of this now, later might be too late!
Proud wife of a navy reservist!
Posted by maria on Mar 6, 2003 at 9:17 PM Thank You! I need to know that someone else really gives a _____. I feel so isolated because most of my friends think that if they ignore BUSH he will just go away..NOT!
Bill Tiller
Posted by William Tiller on Mar 7, 2003 at 5:37 AM I loved to see that ‘the Americans’ are not all war mongerers in the pursuit of money and power, although it seems like that from far away. It’s great to see that there are people in the USA that can look further than their own borders and see what’s going on in the world and that don’t get led blindly by a man (and Government) that didn’t even get half the votes of the Nation. Keep it up! Let people outside your country know that you are not all naive and into the eye for an eye.
Posted by Marian Staudt on Mar 8, 2003 at 1:56 AM Page 1 of 1 pages -
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