Friday, August 12, 2005

"voices in wartime"

i just read lisa williams' poignant essay at book coolie. her comment about war and septimus smith reminded me of what a friend's son said:

"mom, you need to get a passport because if i'm injured, they'll send me to germany."
he's a recent enlistment,and she's a horrified anti-war mom.

she and i, along with several others, saw the documentray "voices in wartime" last month.

it’s a wonderful film that grew from sam hamill’s site, "poets against war." the film focuses on poetic response to conflict, largely the response of soldiers serving in action, and is grounded in a very humane point of view.

here’s the website where you can read about it: http://voicesinwartime.org/VoicesInWartime/order/Order.aspx.

************

why don't we, the wealthiest nation on earth, guarantee health and pharmaceutic care to our residents?

why do we spend young lives on "weapons of mass destruction"?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
r said...

Oh Chella... you got your first spam comment. I know there's a way to remove it, but I don't know how.

I'm so sorry I missed that film. You were the first one who told me about the poets againt war website.

Anonymous said...

Chella, I am thrilled to be within a blog. After all the talk, I was really so far behind. The poetry workshop is going very well. Yes, I am a token male - with one other. I also am very impressed with how you do all the html stuff that makes a blog or website - they are the same, aren't they.

We do not care because we have distanced ourselves from pain and suffering except for a very small circle.
Bill Honey

Brandon said...

What a great site! I soo hope a lot comes out of Cindy Sheehan being in Crawford, Texas. I have deemed her the new Mother Jones. Take Care,
Brandon

Lee Herrick said...

Chella,

I'm enjoying your poems. And the Poets Against the War info. I heard Cindy Sheehan on the radio the other day and was moved by her comments about her son and her time in Crawford.

Best,

Lee

Pris said...

Chella
A fantastic post! Yes, it's hard to write an effective antiwar poem. The feelings sometimes are so strong that the poem doesn't speak. The example you give here is a wonderful one and I've seen many others, too. The International War Poetry Archives keeps a site for poems about the war and its aftermath. Two of the guest poets on my website have some really effective poems on the war experience--Michael Subritsky and Anthony Pahl.

As for your spam, that wedding guy posted on mine, too. My blog has little icons like pincushions beside each comment and those are used to delete. The admin can delete anything...the commenter only his/her own. I don't see that on yours tho. Go into your posting panel and look at settings/comments and see if there's a way to enable that.

Pris said...

P.S. the little pincushion came up after I posted. It's at bottom left. You should be able to zap Mr. Wedding guy:-)