Poetry about War

Graphic by Saknarin Chinayote to accompany  the poem "Waves" by Charles Frederickson;

the most recent poem on the online poetry-news site The New Verse News

I've felt a bit out of touch with the news lately. It's a deliberate act - the not-looking at the media. Sometimes I can't stand to know enough.  The innocence is lovely, but also unsafe. How long can I float around in the harbor of unknowing? 


I'm aware of the tsunami in Japan, the crud going on in Libya, the revolutions, the suicide bombers.... how much can we take? where do we put this kind of knowledge? where in our bodies? where in our minds? 


I did a poetry reading and panel with three poets the other night. Renee Gregorio talked about "bodying-forth" with our poetry, feeling and expressing what we know inside. How do we do this if our bodies hold only ugly and dark?


This morning I turned to The New Verse News for some understanding. Instead of a straight media overview of the world, I wanted the poets' takes. I wanted my news to be somehow beautiful, somehow breathtaking.  I read about Steve Jobs and Charlie Sheen, along with the regular horrific examples of the state of our world. I read "fears are pennies / on a dead man’s eyes" in a poem called "America's Last WWI Veteran Dies" by donnarkevic, and felt somehow better. The line was just so stunning.


NVN isn't the Huff Post where news come through in (un)manageable bytes. Check it out. I believe in poetry that tells the truth, but tells it just the slightest bit slant. It makes my body feel a little less sick at what I have to know.