Poets Against War continues the tradition of socially engaged poetry by creating venues for poetry as a voice against war, tyranny and oppression.
Leslie McClintock
61 years old
I've been a poet as long as I can remember. I have an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Montana (1976) and loved the time I spent there. I've been an activist all my life and have worked in the field of domestic and sexual violence for 25 years but am now retired. I'm the mom of 3, grandma of 2, with another on the way. I want my grandchildren to live in a better, not a worse, world than we've created for them to this point, especially under Bush, though it looks grim at the moment. But I believe in the power of language and especially of poetry to tell the deepest truths and make lasting emotional connections among people. I believe that poetry has the power to heal in a world that is broken.
Fourteen School Children Murdered in Kabul
Fourteen School Children, Murdered in Kabul
Glossy magazine photo shows flawless curvature of spine, model at a spa, hot round black stones placed from curve of neck to coccyx. In Kabul this morning, fourteen children, eight to ten years old, walking to school the last day of term are blown up by a suicide bomber. Grainy AP photo shows one textbook fanned open on the road, sandal, still buckled. They are not shown vertebra by vertebra, stone by stone.
—Leslie McClintock
Prayer for Susan Tsvangirai
Susan Tsvangirai, your name is beautiful. Morgan Tsvangirai, your name is beautiful. Susan Tsvangirai, when your death was announced on the radio today, it was impossible not to cry out. The lorry, the news said, swerved into your lane, into the third car in the caravan, the car you were riding in, the third car. Impossible not to cry out. The news said Robert Mugabe hurried to the hospital to pay his respects. The news said high government officials from Robert Mugabe’s party hurried to the hospital to pay their respects. Where you, Morgan Tsvangirai, the news said had just been made aware your wife was dead. From such spare facts half and more a world away Impossible not to cry out.
The news said
Mai Tsvangirai Vanofa Mushure Metsaona yeMotokari Asi VaTsvangirai vanonzi havana kukuvara zvakanyanya mutsaona yatora mudzimai wavo.
The news said
Mai Tsvangirai Vanofa Mushure Metsaona yeMotokari Asi VaTsvangirai vanonzi havana kukuvara zvakanyanya mutsaona yatora mudzimai wavo.
UNkosikazi Susan Tsvangirai Ufela Engozini Yemota UTsvangirai yena ubikwa elimele kakubi engozini le enzakalele eChivhu ngolweSihlanu lapho imota ekade ehamba ngayo engqikilane khona lenkalakatha ye lori
The news said
Zimbabwe Mourns Death of Susan Tsvangirai, PM's Wife, In Highway Crash Sources within the party who declined to speak on the record expressed suspicions about the incident in which the tractor-trailer swerved from the oncoming lane into the three-car convoy in which the Tsvangirais were traveling
Susan Tsvangirai, I am so sorry Morgan Tsvangirai, I am so sorry Tsvangirai children, I am so sorry People of Zimbabwe, I am so sorry
Half a world away and then some I pray for you, honor your courage, and your sacrifice. I pray that justice is more swift than merciful.
—Leslie McClintock
Blue Angels
Blue Angels
Navy planes, Blue Angels, Navy Pier. I wonder if from Oprah’s tower she watches us down here. We splash with Nicholas in the fountain, little hedonist, how I love him. Navy planes, Blue Angels, over Navy Pier, dressed up for us in dress blues, berserker, shrieking harpies, valkries, hounds from hell, our dare-devil, devil-may-care, barrel-roll, split- second, spit-and-polish, fly girls and boys, up from Pensacola on a lazy August Sunday with their white contrails and blue toys. Half a century back, half-mad, muttering, sleepless Lyndon Johnson. Viet Nam. These are not his bombers, these dressed-up, tricked-out Hornets, or his problem.
Take a pew. Bob Newhart, our beloved shrink, bronzed cultural icon, Oprah’s window glints, the topmost one, Obama’s speeches glitter in the sun, our Navy puts its best foot forward, and its best show on.
Half a world away, Iraq. Half a world away, Afghanistan.
