"Advancing down the road from Nineveh
Death paused a while and said, Now listen here
You see the names of places round about
They are mine now and I have turned them inside out.
Take Eden further South
At dawn today I ordered up my troops to tear away
its walls and gates so everyone can see that gorgeous
fruit which dangles from its tree.
You want it don't you? Go and eat it then and lick your
lips and pick the same again.
Take Tigris and Euphrates.
Once they ran through childhood-coloured slabs of sand and
sun. Not any more they don't. I have filled them up with
countless different kinds of human crap.
Take Babylon
The palace sprouting flowers which sweetened empires in
their peaceful hours.
I have found a different way to scent the air. Already it's
a by-word for despair.
Which leaves Baghdad, the star-tipped minarets, the marble
courts and halls, the mirage heat.
These places and the ancient things you know you won't know
soon. I am working on it now."
-Andrew Motion
Poet laureate attacks war in Iraq
-
kissorkill
- Big Ears
- Posts: 20
- Joined: Wed Feb 19, 2003 9:01 am
- Location: Brooklyn
Poet laureate attacks war in Iraq
What would you wish for if you lived in Iraq?
-
kissorkill
- Big Ears
- Posts: 20
- Joined: Wed Feb 19, 2003 9:01 am
- Location: Brooklyn
Poet laureate attacks war in Iraq
hmmm....obvious answer: peace? right now, I'd be happy with a steak. I'm not very good at this game.
Poet laureate attacks war in Iraq
I'd wish for freedom.
Poet laureate attacks war in Iraq
So would I ... and the Iraqi people certainly would have never gotten freedom under the thumb of Sadaam.
myke
Viva la Expanded Canada!
myke
Viva la Expanded Canada!
-
<Jack Chiefton>
Poet laureate attacks war in Iraq
Perhaps it just seems too obvious to me, the real axis of evil being G.W.B, Numbsfeld, Dick "stroke" Cheney, and John Asscroft. Three fucking patriots my ass!
I mean, put yourself in the position of the Iraqi people. Imagine sipping on a beverage in your easy chair in whatever town USA, trying to listen to some records when an air assault rains down on you, demolishing your abode and leaving you crippled. Lets say that it's the Russians who have declared George Bush a tyrant and impose his immediate demise! So the Russians invade us because they think what they're doing is for God and country, and they have this notion of the United States being evil! So who's fucking validated? Who's evil and who's good and who the fuck says so? How is George Bush, who got college marks similar to mine, the authority that dictates "good" and "evil", that's what I want to know.
I say Hussein and Bushy both need to take a vacation, and bring that Kim JOng fellow along. The three of them should spend a couple of weeks in Amsterdam or Jamaica.
Those three old fucks need to get laid!! I mean, Laurie Bush and Saddam's ten wives are obviously not putting out.
I say we support our troops, bring them home, and let the inevitability of old age turn Hussein into a decrepit corpse, and let the Iraqi people keep living their lives without the fear of a bomb dropping on them from silly misguided white people living across the ocean.
I mean, put yourself in the position of the Iraqi people. Imagine sipping on a beverage in your easy chair in whatever town USA, trying to listen to some records when an air assault rains down on you, demolishing your abode and leaving you crippled. Lets say that it's the Russians who have declared George Bush a tyrant and impose his immediate demise! So the Russians invade us because they think what they're doing is for God and country, and they have this notion of the United States being evil! So who's fucking validated? Who's evil and who's good and who the fuck says so? How is George Bush, who got college marks similar to mine, the authority that dictates "good" and "evil", that's what I want to know.
I say Hussein and Bushy both need to take a vacation, and bring that Kim JOng fellow along. The three of them should spend a couple of weeks in Amsterdam or Jamaica.
Those three old fucks need to get laid!! I mean, Laurie Bush and Saddam's ten wives are obviously not putting out.
I say we support our troops, bring them home, and let the inevitability of old age turn Hussein into a decrepit corpse, and let the Iraqi people keep living their lives without the fear of a bomb dropping on them from silly misguided white people living across the ocean.
Poet laureate attacks war in Iraq
The Iraqi people were living in fear before they ever heard of George W Bush. Comparing the US to Iraq is comparing apples to oranges. You might not like Bush, but the beautiful thing about freedom is you can vote him out in four years. You try to vote Saddam out, you and your family will disappear.
-
<kissorkill>
Poet laureate attacks war in Iraq
Somedays it seems like bits of our freedom are being taken away from us.
http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/03/25/d1.cr.terrorismbill.0325.html
It will be a grand day when Saddam has left this earth. It would be even better if he took that motherfucker Ashcroft with him.
http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/03/25/d1.cr.terrorismbill.0325.html
It will be a grand day when Saddam has left this earth. It would be even better if he took that motherfucker Ashcroft with him.
-
<Jack Chiefton>
Poet laureate attacks war in Iraq
Well Brett, I guess we're speaking in statistics here aren't we? What is your data and what are your sources? Do you know any citizens living in Iraq? Have any friends that have dissapeared?
And this is why I've kept quiet about this war for so long because you get jumped on the moment you say something mainly by "aspiring intellectuals." And I wasn't comparing the states to iraq, if you read more closely I was using the states as an example and metaphorically comaring Russia to the states, which didn't make much sense but sometimes I just get lost in Juarez when it's easter time too. and then the gravity fails me and negativity....but otherwise this is it, I speak of it no more, when I know something is wrong, I don't feel obligated to answer questions and retaliate, especially to people I don't know or will never meet.
And this is why I've kept quiet about this war for so long because you get jumped on the moment you say something mainly by "aspiring intellectuals." And I wasn't comparing the states to iraq, if you read more closely I was using the states as an example and metaphorically comaring Russia to the states, which didn't make much sense but sometimes I just get lost in Juarez when it's easter time too. and then the gravity fails me and negativity....but otherwise this is it, I speak of it no more, when I know something is wrong, I don't feel obligated to answer questions and retaliate, especially to people I don't know or will never meet.
-
<Jack Chiefton>
Poet laureate attacks war in Iraq
Sorry Brett, when I re-read my last post it sounded like I was attacking you, but meant nothing by it. Sometimes when they give me a lethal dose it strangles up my mind.
Poet laureate attacks war in Iraq
I don't want to write about it anymore either. I just thought I'd throw my 2 cents in. I work with someone from Iraq and someone from Iran. I've heard their stories and that's good enough for me. I never entered into the previous discussions on this subject because they all seemed to quickly deteriorate into name calling and ranting. I just know that I love being able to do what I want and say what I want. I find that very cool.
Poet laureate attacks war in Iraq
But doesn't it seem a little odd to you that the reasons given for this war kept changing as we collectively marched toward it? First it was a purported connection between Iraq, Hussein & Al-Qaida which never materialized. Then the reason was given as the weapons of mass destruction Hussein is supposedly hiding, and his flouting of U.N. resolutions. And THEN a *really* weird thing happened just before the bombs first fell: Bush suddenly stopped talking about weapons of mass destruction and for the first time started talking about liberating the Iraqi people, trying to bring democracy to Iraq and indeed to the entire middle east.
Didn't you question why the reasons for the war changed? Didn't that seem a little strange or suspicious to you? See, I don't get how someone can be against Bush but for the war. What on earth have Bush & co. done to make you see them as trustworthy? They're fucking crooks man. In secret, they have plotted the demise of the free speech you now prize. It's called The Patriot Act, and it throws a hammer in your constitutional rights and mine. There isn't a damn thing this administration has done that's within 6000 light years of trustworthy. I don't know why they can be trusted with a war.
Didn't you question why the reasons for the war changed? Didn't that seem a little strange or suspicious to you? See, I don't get how someone can be against Bush but for the war. What on earth have Bush & co. done to make you see them as trustworthy? They're fucking crooks man. In secret, they have plotted the demise of the free speech you now prize. It's called The Patriot Act, and it throws a hammer in your constitutional rights and mine. There isn't a damn thing this administration has done that's within 6000 light years of trustworthy. I don't know why they can be trusted with a war.
Poet laureate attacks war in Iraq
I think that's a very cool & succinct way to put things, Brett. No matter what else is true or what side you land on, one thing is clear ... the Iraqis have NEVER had anything approaching freedom under Sadaam and never would.
I had a friend at the univesity. He was in an adjoining fraternity and his parents had fled Iraq in the 70s to get away from Sadaam. He always told me that Americans and westerners in general often take for granted the freedoms they have because they know nothing else.
myke
I had a friend at the univesity. He was in an adjoining fraternity and his parents had fled Iraq in the 70s to get away from Sadaam. He always told me that Americans and westerners in general often take for granted the freedoms they have because they know nothing else.
myke