“[I]n times of crisis it’s interesting that people don’t turn to the novel or say, ‘We should all go out to a movie,’ or ‘Ballet would help us.’ It’s always poetry. What we want to hear is a human voice speaking directly in our ear.”
Billy Collins, U.S. Poet Laureate (2001-2003) speaking to the New York Times, as quoted in The Dead Beat by Marilyn Johnson
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
image and poem below the fold
An Iraqi mourns death of relative outside the morgue of a local hospital in the restive city of Baquba. A suicide car bomber has killed six Shiite pilgrims Saturday as Iraq battled to thwart a fresh outbreak of sectarian bloodshed that killed 79 worshippers near a Shiite mosque a day earlier.
(AFP/Ali Yussef)
Bryan Taylor, is shown in this yearbook photo provided by Milford High School, Friday, April 7, 2006. Taylor, 20, a graduate of Milford and Live Oaks Class of 2004 was killed in Iraq while serving with the U.S. Marine Corps.
(AP Photo/Courtesy of Milford High School)
Whipping Post
by The Allman Brothers
from Live at the Fillmore East
I been run down, I been lied to,
I don’t know why I let that mean woman make me a fool.
She took all my money, wrecked my new car.
Now she’s with one of my goodtime buddies,
They’re drinkin’ in some crosstown bar.
Sometimes I feel, sometimes I feel,
Like I been tied to the whipping post,
Tied to the whipping post,
Tied to the whipping post,
Good lord, I feel like I’m dyin’.
My friends tell me, that I’ve been such a fool,
And I have to stand by and take it baby, all for lovin’ you.
Drown myself in sorrow, and I look at what you’ve down.
But nothin’ seems to change, the bad times stay the same,
And I can’t run.
Sometimes I feel, sometimes I feel,
Like I been tied to the whipping post
Tied to the whipping post,
Tied to the whipping post,
Good lord, I feel like I’m dyin’.
Sometimes I feel, sometimes I feel,
Like I been tied to the whipping post
Tied to the whipping post,
Tied to the whipping post,
Good lord, I feel like I’m dyin’.
– – –
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
