“Speak out for those who cannot speak,
for the rights of all the destitute.”
Proverbs 31:8
this diary is dedicated to all who suffer because of war and other disasters
we honor courage in all its forms
cross-posted at DailyKos, Booman Tribune, European Tribune, and My Left Wing.
april is national poetry month
6 images and poem below the fold
Black smoke billows from the site where a car bomb exploded in Baghdad. Five Shiites walking on a pilgrimage to the shrine city of Karbala were wounded by a roadside bomb in western Baghdad.
(AFP/Sabah Arar)
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Iraqi passer-by look at the flak jacket of an Iraqi policeman, following a roadside bomb, in Baqouba, 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, March 19, 2006. A roadside bomb exploded Sunday targeting a police patrol, killing three policemen and injuring ten civilians.
(AP Photo/Mohammed Adnan)
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Residents try to extinguish a fire in house of a civilian after an attack by unidentified gunmen in Ramadi, 115 kilometers (70 miles) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, March 19, 2006. Two civilian bystanders were killed Sunday and ten others injured as U.S. troops, stationed at the governor’s office of Ramadi, clashed with unidentified gunmen attacked the building with light weapons, police said.
(AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
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An injured Shiite Muslim man who was on his way to Karbala, is transported in hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, March 17, 2006. Gunmen targeting streams of Shiite Muslim pilgrims, many parents with children in tow, heading for the holy city of Karbala, shot and killed three people on Friday morning and wounded two others in a Sunni Muslim neighborhood of Baghdad, police reported.
(AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
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An injured victim of a roadside bomb attack gets treated in a hospital, in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, March 18, 2006. A roadside bomb exploded Saturday on a traffic police patrol which was parking near a bridge in eastern Baghdad, wounding one civilian and damaging the patrol vehicle, police said.
(AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
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An injured Iraqi Shiite man who was on his way to Karbala, gets treated in a hospital, in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, March 17, 2006. Gunmen targeting streams of Shiite Muslim pilgrims, many parents with children in tow, heading for the holy city of Karbala, shot and killed three people on Friday morning and wounded two others in a Sunni Muslim neighborhood of Baghdad, police reported.
(AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
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An Iraqi man cries as he takes the body of his relative, after doctors were unable to save his life, who was brought critically injured from a roadside bomb explosion, in Baghdad,Iraq, Sunday, March 12, 2006. Bomb blasts, rocket and gunfire killed at least 10 people and injured 23 in the Iraqi capital as the work week got under way Sunday, police said.
(AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Someone
by Dennis O’Driscoll
someone is dressing up for death today, a change of skirt or tie
eating a final feast of buttered sliced pan, tea
scarcely having noticed the erection that was his last
shaving his face to marble for the icy laying out
spraying with deodorant her coarse armpit grass
someone today is leaving home on business
saluting, terminally, the neighbours who will join in the cortege
someone is paring his nails for the last time, a precious moment
someone’s waist will not be marked with elastic in the future
someone is putting out milkbottles for a day that will not come
someone’s fresh breath is about to be taken clean away
someone is writing a cheque that will be rejected as `drawer deceased’
someone is circling posthumous dates on a calendar
someone is listening to an irrelevant weather forecast
someone is making rash promises to friends
someone’s coffin is being sanded, laminated, shined
who feels this morning quite as well as ever
someone if asked would find nothing remarkable in today’s date
perfume and goodbyes her final will and testament
someone today is seeing the world for the last time
as innocently as he had seen it first
– – –
put a meaningful magnet on your car or metal filing cabinet
read Ilona’s important new blog – PTSD Combat
view the pbs newshour silent honor roll (with thanks to jimstaro at booman.)
take a private moment to light one candle among many (with thanks to TXSharon)
support Veterans for Peace
support the Iraqi people
support the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC)
support CARE
support the victims of torture
remember the fallen
support Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors – TAPS
support Gold Star Families for Peace
support the fallen
support the troops
support Iraq Veterans Against the War
support Military families Speak Out
support the troops and the Iraqi people
read This is what John Kerry did today, the diary by lawnorder that prompted this series
read Riverbend’s Bagdhad Burning
read Dahr Jamail’s Iraq Dispatches
read Today in Iraq
witness every day