Category Archives: Poetry

History, Poetry, Security

The Least You Can Feel

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John Stewart has a fine news report on the latest mood swings of the American President, coupled with a flashy new public service announcement theme for Bush called “The Least You Can Feel”. The announcement that started the report was:

Nobody likes to see innocent people die.

Incidentally, I was doing some research on the Library of Congress site and happened to take a look in their online store. I was a bit surprised to find that they sell a fancy “Bombers Tie“:

Handsome red and black tie features famous fighter planes of World War II: the B-17 Flying Fortress, B-25 Mitchell, and, of course, the workhorse of the European Campaign, the 4-engine B-17 bomber. Pure silk, hand-finished.

Of all the things the Library of Congress could offer the public to remember the price of past conflicts or to commemorate the service of soldiers, does it have to be a blood-red necktie with silhouettes of bombers? Could this have something to do with a new “hey, innocent people die” sense of fashion on the hill?

Seems like a hint of a “war is hell, get over it” mentality. Speaking of which, when you check out the official “Today in History” page it appears that the LOC is dominated by a list of war and battle stories, along with the impact of war on civilians. Take August 23 for example, which has an entire page dedicated to Farragut’s battle in the Civil War. Compare this rather pointed view with the Wikipedia offering, or the BBC, or the New York Times, all providing a rich list of social and economic events for the same day. And if you really want to see stark contrast from the American style of “which military event happened today” public record, take a look at the Canadian version:

1941 England – William Lyon Mackenzie King 1874-1950 booed by restless Canadian troops in England when he makes a speech; most have been in England for a year without seeing action.

Quite different, eh? On this day troops were upset because they saw a lack of action, or “crew from Saint John defeat Renfrew crew from England in a rowing race”; things in history to feel good, or less bad, about.

Maybe my sample size is too small. I think I’ll go back to reading their archive of poetry now and wonder how to get a good sample from soldiers and civilians, or someone who can really feel and relate the horrors of conflict. Until then, here’s yet another “life goes on” vision of war from their 180 collection for high school students…

Poetry

Ishmael Reed

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What ever happened to all the talk about IM as a form of poetry?

Ishmael Reed was there first.

Lazy (efficient?) typists unite.

Here is an excerpt from his badman of the guest professor, showing he was not only ahead of his time in form, but in commentary on politics as well:

 

listen man, i cant help it if
yr thing is over, kaputs,

    finis

no matter how you slice it dick
you are done. a dead duck all out
of quacks; d nagging hiccup dat
goes on & on w/ out a simple glass

    of water for relief

History, Poetry, Security

Third Degree

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This poem by Langston Hughes (1902-1967) struggles to have a voice and ends up feeling detached, looking in from an outsider’s perspective.

Two sides of a brutal interrogation fight for the reader’s attention, as if he wanted to avoid being a victim to his own poem. Faced with both views at the same time we end up without either, and can only wonder if he intended the reader to be a fly on the wall:

Hit me! Jab me!
Make me say I did it.
Blood on my sport shirt
And my tan suede shoes.

Faces like jack-o’-lanterns
In gray slouch hats.

Slug me! Beat me!
Scream jumps out
Like blowtorch.
Three kicks between the legs
That kill the kids
I’d make tomorrow.

Bar and floor skyrocket
And burst like Roman candles.

When you throw
Cold water on me,
I’ll sign the
Paper . . .

Food, Poetry, Security

Mislabelled meat destroyed in Northern Ireland

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This is a strange story about the global meat market and its use of labels:

Hundreds of tonnes of meat seized during a Food Standards Agency investigation in County Fermanagh must be destroyed, a court has ordered.

Some of the meat was decomposing, foul smelling and green coloured.

The court heard some meat seized at Euro Freeze Ireland (Ltd) in Lisnaskea had bogus health markings and an expiry date of October 2000.

The smell and color were giveaways. What happens when food is engineered not to smell or change color when it decomposes? The information we see on labels will only increase in value as other forms of identification, and therefore trust, disappear.

This brings me back to my concern over cherries made red, almost in a parody of themselves, while the labels to tell you how they are made red are found too alarming to be publically consumed.

I hate to say it but, speaking of rotten meat and things syrupy sweet, this story suddenly reminded me of the poem called “Dream Deferred” by Langston Hughes:

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore–
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over–
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?