Poets Do This Nation Proud

As many of you are likely aware, First Lady Laura Bush invited a number of Poets from around the country to participate in a celebration of "Poetry and the American Voice" in 2003. As timing would have it, the President's plan for a unilateral attack on Iraq got in the way.

One by one, poets from around the country expressed their concern about the course the President was setting the nation on. So many, that the White House was faced with two unpleasant facts. One, that many very well recognized poets in this country had, as a matter of conscience, declined the invitations. In addition, one such poet, Sam Hamill both declined his invitation and asked about fifty fellow poets to reconstitute a Poets Against the War like one that had been such a powerful voice of reason during the war in Vietnam. Over 1500 poets not fifty responded. This led to a second fact that created discomfort for the White House. In a matter of days, poets all over this nation were using the power of word to take issue with the military attack by this nation on the people of Iraq. As such, the First Lady feared that the planned symposium, if carried out, could well become the catalyst for public airing of powerful words of opposition to war. She could not allow that. The event was cancelled altogether.

In spite of this, today, Poets Against the War have a web site with more than 20,000 poems that speak to the insanity of war. It is the largest poetry anthology ever published.

Such action by poets to confront American foreign policy issues is not new. The Letters of Robert Lowell - published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2005 contains an interesting correspondence by Robert Lowell of May 30, 1965 to President Lyndon B Johnson. In it Mr. Lowell recants an invitation he earlier accepted to read at the White House Festival of the Arts the following month. Lowell writes, "When I was telephoned last week and asked to read... I am afraid I accepted somewhat rapidly and greedily. I thought of such an occasions a purely artistic flourish, even though every serious artist knows that he cannot enjoy public celebration without making subtle public commitments. After a week's wondering, I have decided that I am conscience-bound to refuse your courteous invitation." Lowell goes on to explain that he is very enthusiastic about most of [Johnson's] domestic legislation he could only follow the nation's present foreign policy with "the greatest dismay and distrust."

I'm sure that Robert Lowell was by no means the first example of a poet of conscience that felt a higher calling of responsibility with respect to a bankrupt national policy. I am even more confident in saying those who have stood up and spoken out from the depths of their core beliefs about the present American actions in Iraq will not be the last.

I take comfort in knowing that American poets of all walks of life have a history of taking a strong stand in defense of reason and justice when it comes to matters of how this nation behaves in the larger context of the world community.


Visit the web site of Poets Against the War [here]

I also recommend reading the letter by poet Sharon Olds to Laura Bush [here]


Poets Against The War Iraq War Bush Administration

End The War

"LET AMERICA BE AMERICA AGAIN" ~ LANGSTON HUGHES

More Reading Material

Lowell
Originally uploaded by stickpoet.

Picked up new reading material - a copy of The Letters of Robert Lowell
as well as Anne Sexton - A Self Portrait in Letters.

I've already dug into them. Look for some of my observations soon.

DC Rally Site of Poets Against the War Changed!

I just received this information this morning via e-mail from Sam Hamill:

The original meeting location for the DC Poets Against the War
contingent
marching on Saturday will be closed that morning.

So, please join us at our NEW LOCATION (Apologies and please help us
get
the word out!):

Poets Contingent
Saturday, September 24, 11 AM
Sherman Square Park, next to the White House gate on the west side of
15th
Street NW (at Alexander Hamilton Place.)
Closest Metro: McPherson Square (Orange & Blue) or Metro Center (Red,
Orange & Blue)


And don't forget:

Bring your poems of hope and outrage to the:
Open Mic for Peace & Justice
Sunday, September 25, 3-5 PM
Busboys & Poets, 14th & V St., NW, Washington, DC
www.busboysandpoets.com
U Street/Cardozo Green Line Metro
Wheelchair accessible.
Free and open to the public. A special welcome to those in town for
Saturday's rally and march.

More info: 202-577-6596, browning@womenarts.org


Namaste,
Sam Hamill & the PAW Board
http://www.poetsagainstwar.net

The Bush Administration On Iraq vs. Reality

"We do know that [Saddam] is actively pursuing a nuclear weapon" ~ Condoleezza Rice 9/10/02

"We believe [Saddam] has, reconstituted nuclear weapons" ~ Dick Cheney 3/16/03

"There's no question that Saddam Hussein had al Qaeda ties." ~ George W. Bush 9/17/03

"We know where [the WMDs] are." ~ Donald Rumsfeld 3/30/03

"We found the weapons of mass destruction." ~ George W. Bush 5/29/03

We will in fact, be greeted as liberators... I think it will go relatively quickly...
[in] weeks rather than months." ~ Dick Cheney 3/16/06

FACTOIDS -

* Nearly 2,000 U.S. soldiers are dead

* The war is costing Americans $5 billion a month.

* Just this last week, more than 150 people were killed in suicide bombings in the deadliest day in Baghdad since the March 2003 invasion.

* The 9-11 Commission concluded there was not a direct Iraq - al Qaeda link.

* The WMDs are where?

* Nuclear program had never been restarted since the first Iraq war.

Iraq War Bush Administration

The Company You Keep

A candle without a wick
No fire burns
The air is sullen
The sky opaque
The Moon truant

Ambiguity seeps
Through my Pores
A ponderous burden

So I keep company with doubt
Or he with me- we are inseparable
We huddle in the very darkness
That becomes us- this night

Leave My Child Alone

In June of this year I blogged on a little known aspect of Bush's NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND Act. This is a provision that requires school districts to furnish the government personal information on your minor child for the purpose of military recruiting.

This despicable provision at least has an opt-out option. This option is little known and no doubt the government was hopeful that it would continued to be just as obscure as the provision itself that requires school districts to turn over this information to them... Including their social security number. This information then is maintained by a private vendor hired by the department of defense to retain this data.

I am happy to report that LEAVE MY CHILD ALONE DOT ORG has made it relatively simple to opt-out and give proper notification of your child's school district as well as the vendor. ODDS ARE THEY HAVE ALREADY BEEN GIVEN THE INFORMATION DURING THE PAST YEAR. From this site you can very easily with a limited amount of keystrokes, construct two letters - one to your school district superintendent opting-out, and the other to the vendor instructing them to purge your child's information.


Using the link below, you can access the site to help you with this process. I encourage you to not only do this, but help publicize the site so that more people are informed of this. I already opted-out for my school age child.


The Pentagon has been compiling sensitive data on 30 million youth ages 16-to-25 using a private marketing firm, without the knowledge or consent of individuals or their families. You can opt-out of this database by following instructions at www.LeaveMyChildAlone.org.


No Child Left Behind