 20 Feb 2003 @ 16:31, by Letecia Layson
My first Peace action was published in the Desert Sun April 4, 1964 in Tortise Tim's Times Poet Corner:
IF I HAD THREE WISHES
By Letecia Layson (10)
If I had three wishes
I'd wish the world to come to peace
And all our sister countries helping
Hand in hand.
If I had three wishes
I'd wishe for people to get well.
If I had three wishes
I'd wish for happiness for Everyone alike.
Just think of all that would happen
If I had three wishes.
Poets are lifting their pens and voices again to speak for peace. On February 17 Poets Agains War took out a 1/4 page ad in the New York Times stating "over 8,000 poets have submitted poems or personal statements to register their opposition to this war." Here is an snipet from an article about the movement:
Zen poet's voice of dissent heard by anti-war literati
By CHRIS McGANN SEATTLE POST -INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
PORT TOWNSEND -- Sam Hamill, a reclusive former Marine turned Zen Buddhist poet, is an unlikely spokesman for the anti-war poetry movement he started almost by accident.
Hamill triggered a nationwide artistic uprising when he declined a White House invitation to a literary symposium Feb. 12, instead asking fellow poets to write protest poems.
The article goes on to say:
Hamill says he expected 400 or 500 responses, not the national outpouring that followed. In the first week, more than 4,000 poets stepped forward with statements and poems denouncing the war. The contributions came from some of the most distinguished poets in the country, including Galway Kinnel, Hayden Carruth, Phillip Levine, W.S. Merwin, Adrienne Rich and Ursula Le Guin of Portland. By Saturday, submissions to his Web site (poetsagainstthewar.org) had exceeded 10,000... Check the link for the entire :full story.
For some, poetry is not just words, but living action as well, embodying their words:
From Baring Witness Pictured here from Byron Bay, NSW, Australia February 8, 2003
750 women shed their clothes to express their rage against the proposed war in Iraq.
A quote from the website:
These actions have brought unprecedented press to the Pro-Peace movement. Our goal is the creation by local groups of similar actions in every state, leading to a large event at the March 8th Gather the Women rally in Washington, D.C. We encourage everyone to get involved and let the world know that Americans are not marching in lockstep towards war.
I am a peace advocate from way back. I feel it essential/e-sensual to embody the principles we espouse. Peace
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