tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post115058010314183437..comments2024-03-28T22:51:28.222+05:30Comments on The Middle Stage: Dunya Mikhail's war against warChandrahashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07483080477755487202noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-1151205127671711692006-06-25T08:42:00.000+05:302006-06-25T08:42:00.000+05:30Just sharing a poem that was in the 100 Poets Agai...Just sharing a poem that was in the <B>100 Poets Against The War</B> anthology. I was especially struck by the way in which people upon whom war is made, write about it.<BR/><BR/><B>Waiting for the Marines</B><BR/>Fadel K Jabr<BR/><I>Translated from the Arabic original by the poet</I><BR/><BR/>Twelve years have passed<BR/>And the Iraqis are turning over<BR/>Like skewered fish<BR/>On the fire of waiting.<BR/><BR/>The first year of the sanctions<BR/>They said: The Arabs will come<BR/>They will come with love, flour, and the rights of kinship.<BR/>The year passed with its long seasons<BR/>The Arabs never came<BR/>And sent no explanation for the delay.<BR/><BR/>The second year of the sanctions<BR/>They said: The Muslims will come<BR/>They will come with rice, goodness, and the predators’ leftovers<BR/>The year passed with its long seasons<BR/>The Muslims never came<BR/>And sent no explanation for the delay.<BR/><BR/>The third year of the sanctions<BR/>They said: The world will come<BR/>They will come with manna, solace, and human rights<BR/>The year passed with its long seasons<BR/>The world never came<BR/>And sent no explanation for the delay.<BR/><BR/>The fourth year of the sanctions<BR/>They said: The Americans will come<BR/>They will come with hope, sugar, and warm feelings<BR/>The year passed with its long seasons<BR/>The Americans never came<BR/>And sent no explanation for the delay.<BR/><BR/>The fifth year of the sanctions<BR/>They said: The opposition will come<BR/>They will come with victories, water, and air<BR/>The year passed with its long seasons<BR/>The opposition never came<BR/>And sent no explanation for the delay.<BR/><BR/>The sixth year of the sanctions<BR/>They said: We will sell whatever is extra<BR/>We will be frugal until relief comes<BR/>The year passed with its long seasons<BR/>The Iraqis sold all unnecessary things<BR/>Relief never came<BR/>And sent no explanation for the delay.<BR/><BR/>The seventh year of the sanctions<BR/>They said: We will give up our semi-necessities<BR/>We will be patient until we get support<BR/>The year passed with its long seasons<BR/>The support never came<BR/>And sent no explanation for the delay.<BR/><BR/>The eighth year of the sanctions<BR/>They said: We will sell some of our organs<BR/>We will be strong until the coming of justice<BR/>The year passed with its long seasons<BR/>Justice never came<BR/>And sent no explanation for the delay.<BR/><BR/>The ninth year of the sanctions<BR/>They said: We will sell some of our children<BR/>We will sacrifice until the coming of mercy<BR/>The year passed with its long seasons<BR/>Mercy never came<BR/>And sent no explanation for the delay.<BR/><BR/>The tenth year of the sanctions<BR/>They said: We will emigrate<BR/>To the wide world of Allah<BR/>We will entertain ourselves with hope<BR/>Until the coming of the gods’ orders<BR/>The Iraqis separated east and west<BR/>The year passed with its long seasons<BR/>The gods’ orders never came<BR/>And sent no explanation for the delay.<BR/><BR/>The eleventh year of the sanctions<BR/>They said: The best thing for us is to die<BR/>We will stay settled in our graves<BR/>Until the coming of the day of judgement<BR/>The year passed with its long seasons<BR/>Cancer, tuberculosis, and leukæmia consumed their bodies<BR/>The day of judgement never came<BR/>And sent no explanation for the delay.<BR/><BR/>The twelfth year of the sanctions<BR/>The Iraqis found nothing to wait for<BR/>They said: Now is the time<BR/>For the earth’s worms to devour us<BR/>They might rescue us from this hell<BR/>Where we are turning over like skewered fish.Space Barhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08251329008160756254noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-1151063559420238082006-06-23T17:22:00.000+05:302006-06-23T17:22:00.000+05:30Bem - Those are very good thoughts. As usual it is...Bem - Those are very good thoughts. As usual it is a pleasure to hear you. "If you live, the compromises you make become the foundation of your remaining life." An example of that might be the work of Primo Levi, whose writing I like very much. <BR/><BR/>But I have never heard of GB Stern. You write something about her.Chandrahashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07483080477755487202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-1151046871051967762006-06-23T12:44:00.000+05:302006-06-23T12:44:00.000+05:30keeping aside all literary ruminations and speakin...keeping aside all literary ruminations and speaking from personal experiences, war reveals not only the impersonal world but also different levels of your own person that you never know existed. when you are at the end of a gun and not holding the trigger, you wait - either for death or compromises. if you die, there is nothing left of course. but if you live, the compromises you make become the foundation of your remaining life - either good or bad depending on how you look at it. outrage, irony, satire, philosophy etc that comes out in any war poetry (in the context of a living victim's or an exile's poetry) is a conscious and filtered result of how you have personally dealt with those compromises. <BR/><BR/>on a different note, do you have any good stuff on G B Stern? she of the 'Rakonitz' chronicles, written before the 2nd world war.Swar Thounaojamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11214479662694190609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-1151009878652943462006-06-23T02:27:00.000+05:302006-06-23T02:27:00.000+05:30Anonymous - you've laid out the lines of the debat...Anonymous - you've laid out the lines of the debate beautifully there. It is indeed hard to look past the horror and write poetry about it.Chandrahashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07483080477755487202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-1150868997270220612006-06-21T11:19:00.000+05:302006-06-21T11:19:00.000+05:30While I agree that an amplified degree of outrage ...While I agree that an amplified degree of outrage does not necessarily make a poem better, and in fact advertises the poet’s politics, I can’t help feeling that it is a valid response to war. <BR/><BR/>The point is, when does it turn into poetry? It is hard to look past the horrorAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com