A writer must “know and have an ever-present consciousness that this world is a world of fools and rogues… tormented with envy, consumed with vanity; selfish, false, cruel, cursed with illusions… He should free himself of all doctrines, theories, etiquettes, politics…” —Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?). “The nobility of the writer's occupation lies in resisting oppression, thus in accepting isolation” —Albert Camus (1913-1960). “What are you gonna do” —Bertha Brown (1895-1987).
Premonitory, her outstretched arms as she kneels in the spring sunlight, the cry on her lips that will not raise the boy lying dead before her. How often has that image returned, to fade and reappear, then fade again? In Rwanda, in Grozny, Oklahoma . . . Kabul, city of rubble and orphans. And now the Capitol streets are closing, an aroused militia at the gates – the fences scaled by a stray gunman for an enemy poised ever within. We are asleep in the blurred ink of our own newsprint, in the flicker of our nightline images; in the fraying voices of distracted candidates. How long before that prone form rises, to stand, confused and blinking on the sunlit campus field; then fall again in the blood we cannot see . . And that long-held cry of hers awakens, to be heard at last over the stutter of gunfire – in the grassy echo of a town, a street, a house no longer there?
I would urge everyone to watch the PBS doc. (I know--but that's what it's on) "The Death of the 60's." What's extremely disturbing is how bullets were fired into a dormitory at Jackson State (where two students were killed). Unfortunately, things have gotten worse, but we must continue to exercise our right to free speech--even more, today.
Kent State, May 4, 1970 by John Haines
ReplyDeletePremonitory, her outstretched arms
as she kneels in the spring sunlight,
the cry on her lips that will not
raise the boy lying dead before her.
How often has that image returned,
to fade and reappear, then fade again?
In Rwanda, in Grozny, Oklahoma . . .
Kabul, city of rubble and orphans.
And now the Capitol streets are closing,
an aroused militia at the gates –
the fences scaled by a stray gunman
for an enemy poised ever within.
We are asleep in the blurred ink
of our own newsprint, in the flicker
of our nightline images; in the fraying
voices of distracted candidates.
How long before that prone form rises,
to stand, confused and blinking
on the sunlit campus field; then fall
again in the blood we cannot see . .
And that long-held cry of hers awakens,
to be heard at last over the stutter
of gunfire – in the grassy echo of a town,
a street, a house no longer there?
I would urge everyone to watch the PBS doc. (I know--but that's what it's on) "The Death of the 60's." What's extremely disturbing is how bullets were fired
ReplyDeleteinto a dormitory at Jackson State (where two students were killed).
Unfortunately, things have gotten worse, but we must continue to exercise our right to free speech--even more, today.