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Assad, combat, Hayden Carruth, Military, On Being Asked To Write A Poem Against The War In Vietnam, Plato, Poem, poetry, Syria, Vietnam War, War, Wilfred Owen, Writing
Well I have and in fact
more than one and I’ll
tell you this too
I wrote one against
Algeria that nightmare
and another against
Korea and another
against the one
I was in
and I don’t remember
how many against
the three
when I was a boy
Abyssinia Spain and
Harlan County
and not one
breath was restored
to one
shattered throat
mans womans or childs
not one not
one
but death went on and on
never looking aside
except now and then
with a furtive half-smile
to make sure I was noticing.
__________
“On Being Asked To Write A Poem Against The War In Vietnam” by Hayden Carruth, which you’ll encounter in his Collected Shorter Poems, 1946-1991.
“Mortui solum finem belli viderunt”; Plato, “Only the dead have seen the end of war.” As Wilfred Owen, perhaps the most famous modern war poet remarked (in a phrase now inscribed above ‘Poets’ Corner’ in Westminster Abbey), ”My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity.”
I am, of course, bearing in mind the impeding and it seems inevitable U.S. intervention in Syria. I wish I had gone on the record earlier about this — and at least some of my friends will know what my position was — but I was in favor of a U.S. or multilateral strike on Assad’s armaments in May of last year. I have since changed my mind, as I now think the Obama administration is making a grave mistake in focusing on a narrowly tactical rather than broadly strategic, coalition-based course of action. But then again, the real Catch-22 of the matter stems from Assad’s alliances with Russia and to a lesser degree China, which dictate that no matter what the U.S. decides to do, our actions will not have the official sanction of the UN Security Council. So there’s no workable path which would involve a legally constituted, united coalition, as we had in the First Gulf War.
The above picture is of Hayden Carruth.
jeffreyprice said:
The war in Vietnam ruined my life in many ways, and we never fought that war to win. Korea, the same way. We never fought to win.Ido not agree with Iraq and thes newer wars today. They do not protect America. The only reason positive for the war is to save the ($).That shouldn’t even be a reason but I know the consequences when the dollar collapses. Syria did not use chemical weapons, it is the forces we are backing that used those weapons. We need this war and others if we are to save the dollar and if you are OK with that as a reason for war, then you haved the reason and won’t need backing. We will however have to also fight Russia, China, Iran and a few other countries to succeed. First strike is always best in this situation. Other than that, America collapses and we look like the third world nations around the world. I don’t condone, but I understand our position.I will never condone these wars, but I am an American.
jrbenjamin said:
How did the War in Vietnam ruin your life — because of what you saw there or your experience when you got back home? I don’t mean to pry, but I’m interested in knowing.
I can agree with your general assessment of U.S. foreign policy; so often we enter conflicts too late, or in the wrong way, and all that occurs seems like waste on our part — of money, of time, of life. Still the prospect of a global hegemony that isn’t American is a scary one, and that why I think we have to preserve U.S. dominance (often, perhaps counterintuitively, by NOT invading of attacking).
Well, thanks for reading and posting.
john said:
Freaking incredible poem!