Poets Against The War

by John Hawkins | February 12, 2003 11:43 am

Poets Against The War: Today is the much awaited (at least by me) “Day of Poetry Against the War[1].” All over the net, people who aren’t even skilled enough to even pen a proper anti-war editorial have sent their poetic scribblings to an anti-war poetry page that put 5300 of them up. I read about 50 of these poems (not even I have the time or the strength of stomach to plod through 5300 of them) and here are some snippets of poems that caught my eye…

A Message To A Fearful America[2]

“Don’t listen to Bush
listen to Elvis:
don’t listen to Bush
he’s a warmonger.

Don’t listen to Bush
and his sounds of war:
listen to Lennon
and his sounds of peace

give peace a chance…”

Oh I see, we should start basing our foreign policy on the songs of dead musicians. Lennon is an especially odd one to mention in this case since he was shot to death. That should be clue #1 that just because you’re all about peace and love doesn’t mean that everyone else feels the same way.

THE ANTHRAX CONSPIRACY SONG[3]

“…It’s not from out Iraqi-way,
or from bin-Laden–not today.
Maybe Dubya’s dad said, Hey,
“Iran-Contra” -anthrax!

Who conceives such dark events?
Psy-Ops here have relevance.
Military intelligence
sending anthrax?”

Conspiracy theories + badly written poetry — what’s not to love? Especially when the writer says he’s an, ” English instructor for Minnesota State University.” Wouldn’t you hate to be a parent who scrimped and saved college money for 18 years just so your kid could end up in this nut’s English class?

america unite this is not our fight[4]

“america unite this is not our fight. once again the us demands domination and resources that our not ours to shed blood for,this stinks to the core. vietnam they didn’t give a damm gulfwar our brothers and sisters sick ever more. the round table consists of a global conspiracy of capitalist souless pigs who dont care at the devastation, bloodshed and global conspiracy at hand, i pray throughout every day that all true americans open thier eyes and protect their children instead of piling generations in a stack of bones. while one sits on high on some throne.”

I’m not being clever when I say this is the worst. poem. ever. what is with all this weird rhyming stuff, where she rambles on and on, babbling, whining, moaning, and then tosses in a word like tough. because it rhymes with stuff — sure enough — that’s too much of this poetry — it’s for high school students who haven’t learned to write yet — bet!

You know one thing I DIDN’T see? Any poems about Saddam Hussein. Where are all the poems asking Saddam to flee the country so his people will have peace? Where are lame poets writing, “Saddam pay attention because this is key, avoid war by giving up your WMD.” No, no, we can’t expect Saddam to actually, you know, act responsibility or try to do anything for the benefit of his people. But who do these guys think are the bad guys here? Not the maniac who’s cooperating with terrorists and building nukes, but the people who want to do something about it.