“[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, My Left Wing, and TexasKos.
image and poem below the fold
An Iraqi woman weeps outside a hospital after her daughter was killed by a bomb attack in Kerbala, 110 km (70 miles) south of Baghdad May 7, 2006. Car bombs killed 30 people in Iraq on Sunday and wounded more than 70 in one of the bloodiest spasms of violence of recent weeks as political leaders closed in on a deal to form a national unity government.
REUTERS/Ali Abu Shish
Read Your Fate
by Charles Simic
A world’s disappearing.
Little street,
You were too narrow,
Too much in the shade already.
You had only one dog,
One lone child.
You hid your biggest mirror,
Your undressed lovers.
Someone carted them off
In an open truck.
They were still naked, travelling
On their sofa
Over a darkening plain,
Some unknown Kansas or Nebraska
With a storm brewing.
The woman opening a red umbrella
In the truck. The boy
And the dog running after them,
As if after a rooster
With its head chopped off.
– – –
Join CIVIC’s “I Care” photo campaign
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
Click on the candle to copy the image into your own comment (you can leave it on my server), and/or rate this one – not for mojo, but to leave a small mark after taking this moment.
” I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.”
from Dirge Without Music
by Edna St. Vincent Millay
Car Bombs Rock Baghdad, Karbala; 16 Dead
Light A Candle For
Peace, Tolerance, Understanding
and For The Children – Innocence Lost!
A person will worship something, have no doubt about that. We may think our tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of our hearts, but it will out. That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives, and our character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping we are becoming: Ralph Waldo Emerson:
~~~
Soldiers in Pill Bottles
Breaking down in a world of silence.
The war in Iraq has turned into madness.
Vietnam has truly been exhumed.
Betrayal has once again become a nightmare.
People never want to hear a soldier’s pain.
Breaking down in a world of silence.
Ticking…
Ticking…
Ticking…
Mike Hastie
Vietnam Veteran
May 4, 2006
~~~
The powerful have invoked God at their side in this war, so that we will accept their power and our weakness as something that has been established by divine plan. But there is no god behind this war other than the god of money, nor any right other than the desire for death and destruction. Today there is a “NO” which shall weaken the powerful and strengthen the weak: the “NO” to war.: Subcomandante Marcos – Source: No to war, 2/16/03
~~~
Ilona’s Diary – Honor/Remember The Fallen
Poppy Days: Dates, Drives, and Donations
Ending her Diary on the Tradition:
Written by one of the Poppy Makers at Yountville’s [CA] Veterans Home:
A scrap of blood red paper,
A twist of green and black:
We make these poppies in memory,
Of the men who never came back
Far from home and loved ones,
They sleep in foreign lands;
So wear this poppy proudly,
Remembering for whom it stands.
~~~
“Iniquity, committed in this world, produces not fruit immediately, but, like the earth, in due season, and advancing by little and little, it eradicates the man who committed it. …justice, being destroyed, will destroy; being preserved, will preserve; it must never therefore be violated.” : Manu 1200 bc
~~~
FBI Puts SOA Watch under “Counterterrorism” Surveillances
By Matthew Rothschild
May 4, 2006
~~~
Mother’s Day is NOT a hallmark card time. It’s an Anti-War Proclomation.
Laura Bush and her Warpig Decider are making sure that all mothers around the world suffer.
If you must send a Mother’s Day card, make it a photo from Rub’s diary. Stop the killing.
Impeach NOW.
Peace
When I look at that picture I think of my sister when her youngest child died (due to an accident). She cried about how empty her arms felt. I can see that that woman wants nothing more than to hold her daughter one more time.
All Mother’s tears are equal….