A rchive Date
[ 12-02-2003 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ U.S ]
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[http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metropolitan/1774950
No rhyme, reason to stop the poetry
By THOM MARSHALL
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
Feb. 11, 2003, 11:33PM
No poetry allowed in the White House today. No poetry aloud.
First lady Laura Bush has postponed indefinitely her symposium, "Poetry and the American Voice," on account of war. It hadn't yet broken out when the poets' invitations were recalled but looked as though it might get under way any minute, despite growing opposition across the nation and around the world.
The first lady, who has the benefit of a great many advisers, reportedly canceled the poem party plans out of concern that too much of the verse would have been adverse.
Oh, how formidable even one frail poet can be when he, or she, unleashes a well-turned phrase against the rabid dogs of war. If it can't be silenced, a quiet voice of rhyme and reason may drown out the beating of the battle drums and may explain why peace is better. Poems are weapons of mass instruction.
When reporting a couple of weeks ago that the symposium plans had been shelved, news stories quoted first lady spokeswoman Noelia Rodriguez: "While Mrs. Bush respects the right of all Americans to express their opinions, she, too, has opinions and believes it would be inappropriate to turn a literary event into a political forum."
Betraying principles
Inappropriate to turn a literary event into a political forum? Balderdash. Nothing is more appropriate. Literary events are perfectly suited for political forums. Especially when conducted at the White House.
Mrs. Bush is a former librarian. She is a former teacher. Her cancellation of the poetry symposium on such grounds betrays some basic principles of those professions.
Unless ...
Could it be that she actually does believe in the importance of free speech and the unfettered exchange of opinions and ideas? Could it be that she calculated how cancellation of the White House plans would not eliminate the poetical political forum but actually stimulate it? Spur it on to faster momentum, greater participation, louder volume?
Check out the Web site www.poetsagainstthewar.org and you will find that, instead of the handful of people who would have participated in the White House symposium, thousands have gotten involved by contributing their works for an anthology to be delivered this afternoon to the White House. A poetry invasion instead of a poetry symposium.
Sam Hamill, editor and co-founder of Copper Canyon Press, organized the action and declared Feb. 12 "a day of Poetry Against the War."
Nauseated by invitation
He says in an open letter posted on the Web site that he had been "overcome by a kind of nausea" when he first read his invitation from the White House because a day earlier he had seen a report on President Bush's proposed attack on Iraq, "calling for saturation bombing that would be like the firebombing of Dresden or Tokyo, killing countless innocent civilians. Nor has Bush ruled out the use of nuclear weapons."
In the long list of anthology contributions from across this nation and from many other parts of the globe, you can find several works by Houston-area poets.
They include a lawyer, a visual artist, a biochemist, college professors.
They include Kathi Appelt, Lee Chestnut, Julie Chisholm, Paul Christensen, Trudy Guinee, Bertha Ibarra-Parle, Maia Larios, Kimberly Meyer, Elbert Pruitt, David Rossi, Varsha Shah, Dr. Wayne X. Shandera, Monica Vaughan, Robert Way and Richard Wells.
They include Paul English, a local Roman Catholic priest and longtime peace and justice activist, whose poem An Idolater's Prayer includes the following lines:
It's really kindness to destroy them,
Saving them from tyranny.
If some survive, why we'll employ them
Once we've set their homeland free.
Thom Marshall's e-mail address is thom.marshall@chron.com.
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