Anti-War Poetry

Long hiatus is finally over.

I was going to write about the massive joint military exercises the U.S. is conducting with Israel and how it relates to growing tensions with Iran regarding their nuclear ambitions, but I've since discovered that the military is denying the relationship between the two. Not that I believe it; as you may recall, I posted about U.S. plans to "do something" about tensions with China, and judging from the fact that we've recently had no problem fighting wars on multiple fronts, it wouldn't surprise me if both China and Iran are in the works for future conflicts. This is worth exploring more when I have more time. Check out this article concerning the Austere Challenge 12 exercises, and this one which connects the exercises with Iran's own war games in a strategic oil route.

Some of you may know that I write poetry, which you can read at my other blog, This Side of Life. I've been thinking about anti-war poetry a lot recently and wondering how I can contribute to the topic in my own work, even though I have yet to be deployed into combat. While I explore this, I'll be checking out more anti-war poetry. Here's a link to some pretty good ones I enjoyed reading, including a haunting critique entitled "Clean War" by Patricia Wellingham-Jones:

They are calling this the cleanest war in all of military history.

                        --Tom Brokaw, April 2, 2003

Tell that to the ravens

plucking out eyes

on the blood-packed sand

To fathers cradling

the last of their hopes

in torn bodies

To young girls swelling

with the unwanted gifts

of swift strong soldiers

To mothers and wives

pulling on veils of grief

as they wash their dead

Inform the children

who wander dazed with thirst, alone

among ruins