“[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
Iraqi police escort an Iraqi teenage boy with other residents after they were arrested near Kerbala, 110km (70 miles) south of Baghdad May 11, 2006. Six men including the teenage boy were detained on Thursday for suspected insurgent activities, Iraqi police said.
REUTERS/Mushtaq Muhammad
Last Supper
by Charles Wright
I seem to have come to the end of something, but don’t know what,
Full moon blood orange just over the top of the redbud tree.
Maundy Thursday tomorrow,
then Good Friday, then Easter in full drag,
Dogwood blossoms like little crosses
All down the street,
lilies and jonquils bowing their mitred heads.
Perhaps it’s a sentimentality about such fey things,
But I don’t think so. One knows
There is no end to the other world,
no matter where it is.
In the event, a reliquary evening for sure,
The bones in their tiny boxes, rosettes under glass.
Or maybe it’s just the way the snow fell
a couple of days ago,
So white on the white snowdrops.
As our fathers were bold to tell us,
it’s either eat or be eaten.
Spring in its starched bib,
Winter’s cutlery in its hands. Cold grace. Slice and fork.
– – –
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
.
(MSNBC) May 12 — Russian President Vladimir Putin played on that theme in his annual state of the union speech, referring to the United States, none-too-obliquely, as “Comrade Wolf,” and in the same breath, announcing what could soon become a new arms race on a scale not seen since the days of the cold war.
American military spending, said Putin, “is 25 times” that of Russia’s. “In defense parlance, their house is their fortress, and good for them,” he went on, but “we have to build our home, our house, to be strong and safe–because we can see what is happening in the world. We can see it! As they say, Comrade Wolf knows whom to eat. He is eating and listening to no one. And it would seem he has no intention of listening.” Applause rang through the Kremlin. “Just where does all the rhetoric on the need to fight for human rights and democracy disappear to when it comes to the need to realize one’s own interests?” Putin asked. “It turns out that everything is permitted. There are no restrictions whatsoever.”
LEAVE Iraq to the Iraqis
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
Impeach NOW!
Insurgents Down U.S. Copter, Killing 2
Peace
I dream of giving birth to a child who will ask, “Mother, what was war?” ~ Eve Merriam
Peace
Impeach The Cabal!
…and the light of Peace will be revealed.
Dedicated to Treatment of America’s Veterans
June is “Torture Awareness Month”
Light A Candle For
Peace, Tolerance, Understanding
and For The Children – Innocence Lost!
Month of May-PBS, NOW- Dedicated to Treatment of America’s Veterans!!
Monday, 15 May 2006
Reading, Writing, and Recruitment – Public Broadcasting Series NOW dedicating the Month of May to the treatment of America’s VETERANS.
Visit Link, ‘Bobby’ once again has alot to say, and watch the NOW PBS Series
GI Special 4E15 Col. Ritchie Confirms….pdf
Ava has another Flash Presentation up, you can view it HERE
And it’s So Refreshing, and Encouraging, to Listen to a Young Adult, as it has been with the Hundreds I’ve met over these last 3yrs. Plus, and ongoing. After watching, listening to, and reading Responses from So Called Responsible Adults, better tagged as Talking Heads{giving oppinion and calling it news as they yell at each other, or refuse opposing oppinions/proof/reality to their propaganda, on their radio shows}, Trolls, Freepers, and Sheep, Frightened little people, etc.etc.etc.!
Listen to Ava’s Interview on the Alan Colmes Show
And visit Ava’s ‘Peace Takes Courage’ Site