Soldier Poet
Since I am laid up part of the day, I thought I would try a little TV online. I found this poetry segment of The Online NewsHour interesting. This segment is a poet profile of Brian Turner, a soldier poet during his tour in Iraq. He speaks about his poetry here. There is video from tonight's show.
4 comments:
Thank you for posting these links. I would have never gone looking for poetry. I very much enjoy your writing and it made me think maybe I would at least not dislike the poetry in the link. To my surprise I found the poetry touching. It feels real, not contrived in the least, but an honest attempt to communicate a complex idea.
In examining my reluctance to click through the link I found that there was a little bit of fear involved. I may have been afraid that I would have to share some of his pain of war. Fear that maybe I would have to share his fear of death or even his joy of survival. I think that a lot of men fear emotions.
Hope your recovery is going well.
-Ray
z.
I thought that any reluctance would come from readers thinking that the poetry would be politicized. I felt the same way, that Turner's poetry reflected the ordinary and unordinary experiences of a soldier. Lately we don't get to hear a soldiers point of view, unless it is expressly about the validity of the war.
I am a little down on politics lately. Watching the protestors in LA on the news today I realized that the few celebrities that were there had much more effect on the political system a weeks ago when they attended million dollar fund raisers for the various candidates for president, than all of the people in the streets did today. It is so sad, but I don't see a good alternative to media driven campaigns. It seems that the only people who are willing to talk about the issues are those are convinced that only their way is the right. I am a middle ground kind of person. I would like to see less of my pay check go to the federal government, but I would be willing to pay the total amount of tax, maybe even a little more if it went to state and local governments. The closer to home the money is the better I and my neighbors can keep the politicians honest. There are problems brought on by the way our society was born and has evolved. Problems that have been unsolved for hundreds of years and problems that were created by the new techonolgies being developed. I have not given up hope, but the Bush years have certainly brought back my cynicism.
We all have heard the George Santayana quote "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." It seems like lately there has been an effort at the extremes of political view to not only ignore that statement but to also change history so that it reflects their perspective. There are some historians in the debate, but the general public hardly gets to see it. If they do they wouldn't care to challenge the revisions, because it appeals to their desire for the mythological America. More of us should speak out in any forum and call politicians on policy, this may be a way to change the effect of the media. Many candidates are using the WEB as a method to communicate their message, perhaps we can make it two way.
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