Poets Against the War

On January 28, Sam Hamill sent an open letter -- printed below -- to a few friends. Word has spread like wildfire from mailbox to mailbox, and to date over 5,300 poets have submitted poems or personal statements to register their opposition to the Bush administration's headlong plunge toward war in Iraq. In doing so, they have honored a long and rich tradition of thoughtful and moral opposition by poets and other artists to senseless and murderous policies, including those of our own government.
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My blog brother Joseph Duemmer has a poem in this collection.

The Language of Poetry

An educated man, Ngo Dinh Diem
believed in the power of words
to make a difference in the world
of things. So in a poetic gesture

he renamed the dangerous provinces
west of his capital, calling them
Hua Nghia, a literary cliche that means
deepening righteousness. He called

the district center Khiem Cuong,
modest but vigorous, replacing
the old name Bau Trai, round farm.
In the summer of 1963 the word was

becoming flesh. The president meant
to deceive the spirits of the air & earth
who have lived long in that place,
but they were not fooled, even by poetry.