The Chronicle of Higher Education invites subscribers to a live discussion of poetry and politics:
Should poets speak out about a possible war with Iraq? What is the appropriate role for poets in weighing in on political issues? Join us for a live discussion of this topic on Thursday at noon, U.S. Eastern time.
This is all a bit too, well, precious for words. Why ask non-poets what poets should do? Should poets care about the opinions of non-poets about whether they should speak out (speak in?) about war and peace? Should non-poets care what poets think of war and peace?
Isn’t it obvious that poets “should speak out” precisely as much, or as little, as anyone else? And that people should listen to them in proportion to the value of their comments, not the fact that they have a membership card in the poets’ union? Perhaps there are some poets whose comments would be as valuable as those of plumbers, policemen, etc., and if so we should definitely hear them.
Meanwhile, Daniel Drezner gives a much-deserved going over to a New York Times Magazine article that, among other things, quotes “a young woman from Def Poetry Jam” who shouted: “We send our love to poets in Iraq and Palestine. Stay safe!” Poets in Israel presumably needn’t bother. So much for the international brotherhood of poets.
I wonder, with Drezner, if there are any poets in Iraq. If not, perhaps we could lend them Amiri Baraka, a.k.a. Leroi Jones, whose position as poet laureate of New Jersey was recently abolished. His poem, “Somebody Blew Up America,” contains the following lines:
Who knew the World Trade Center
was gonna get bombed
Who told 4000 Israeli workers at the Twin Towers
To stay at home that day
Why did Sharon stay away?
Perhaps Baraka could be commissioned to compose, “I Sing A Song of Saddam.”
