May 10, 2004
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What difference the voiced opinions over those never expressed, those silent alibis that could have changed the world, saved someone from the gas, or the noose, or the lead that flattened against the stone wall, passing clean through the poet's head? Did fear make you hold your tongue? What difference the dissident over the merely complacent citizen who spends his time sedated before the tragedies broadcast nightly; the incandescent light radiates the filtered truth of images hand-selected for his entertainment? Did comfort make you turn your head? What difference the great cry for freedom over the small voice whimpering in a bombed out hovel in some far off land that did not exist in your geography before the zealots and evangelists targeted their enemies through the sight of unholy rhetoric? Did fanaticism fill your ears with sand? What difference the hate-filled words over these words asking that you stop "the murder and the madness," stop defending by defining as collateral damage, those children whose voice you did not hear fading at their last breath's exhalation. Did horror stun you into this cruel silence or have you no love for humanity? What difference the weight of one more voice? Could it be the difference between good or evil between calling for the executioner or the pardoner, between the healer and the torturer, between peace for those who are suffering or praise for genocidal maniacs? Did love teach you not to speak your mind? · · · · · ·
Poetry on Swans Gerard Donnelly Smith, a poet and musician, teaches creative writing, literature and composition at Clark College in Vancouver WA. CERRO de la ESTRELLA (Logan Elm Press, 1992) was chosen for The Governor's Award for the Arts in Ohio, 1992. Excerpts from THE AMERICAN CORPSE (10 poems) were published in Apex of the M in 1995. He is the current director of the Columbia Writers Series, an Honorary Board Member of The Mountain Writers Series, and co-advisor of the Native American Student Council at Clark College. He has also organized readings for Poets Against the War. Do you wish to share your opinion? We invite your comments. E-mail the Editor. Please include your full name, address and phone number. If we publish your opinion we will only include your name, city, state, and country. Please, feel free to insert a link to this work on your Web site or to disseminate its URL on your favorite lists, quoting the first paragraph or providing a summary. However, please DO NOT steal, scavenge or repost this work on the Web without the expressed written authorization of Swans. This material is copyrighted, © Gerard Donnelly Smith 2004. All rights reserved. |
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