Poets Against War continues the tradition of socially engaged poetry by creating venues for poetry as a voice against war, tyranny and oppression.
Pat Harvey
51 years old
Wife, mother, daughter, grandmother, former grocery store manager turned writing instructor, but always a storyteller and poet.
I Cannot Speak of War
I can only speak of soldiers: captured in nearly a century of photographs. Old eyes in young faces who wear integrity as easily as their crisp dress blues and browns.
I can speak of my grandfather: the doughboy learning a bit of the old parlez-vous with gay mademoiselles baring frantic smiles and foxholed nights when the chauchaut rifle was useless.
I can speak of my father: GI Joe following in the footsteps of Fat Man through the hot ashes of Nagasaki, where watches stopped, Geiger counters clicked and wildflowers bloomed in the nuclear afternoon.
I can speak of my brother: always faithful to the Corps. The drill instructor of Parris Island, pulling weekend suicide watches - basic training of grunts into privates – the process of plucking out the few and the proud.
I can speak of my son: nearly a man the day the towers fell. His eyes were unforgiving, dark and newly old. The next custodian turned to face the incoming storm and I placed his picture on the shelf along with the others.
