In Two Parts
by Sudeep Pagedar
19 years old
Mumbai Maharashtra, India
I. The Act
the sun is set,
the time is right
for the raping of faith,
the murder of hope,
of all things beautiful and bright.
who will begin?
says the King on his throne
to his subjects, many hungry for change.
not I, cries the Jester - who is then Shown.
the King; his fury, his rage!
The Frightened ones, as One, begin.
Burn, Burn, Burn,
Burn, and rise up higher.
The Flames, they dance,
they gallivant and prance -
and every tongue gets its turn
to Burn, in the name of Fire.
few are spared,
and in this too,
women and children are first.
Black gold! Black gold! quench our thirst!
go on, enemies, do your worst.
Our King now rules this place, not you.
II. In Retrospect, Looking Forward
isn't it strange
that victory (once the enemy is disarmed)
and peace (when the enemy has died)
both have the same sign?
oh, I'm terribly sorry,
of course they're different -
Victory's is a 'V', upright
while Peace's is an overturned 'Y'.
Peace is overturned. Why?
 Read
other poems by
Sudeep Pagedar at the
Voices in Wartime web site
http://www.voicesinwartime.org/Home/Article/DisplayArticle.aspx?AuthorID=108908&TypeofContent=Article&ArticleType=1#369897
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Editor's
Reflections
Is “why” in the stillness of peace?
by Rich MoniakIt’s a simple visual transformation to imagine
victory’s “V” as a smile. Truly though there is little
related to war that brings happiness aside from its end.
Whether it’s the truce that hopes to end the violence,
or the long awaited reunion between lovers, all smiles
before it’s over are tempered with tomorrow’s fear and
anxiety.
Yet all endings are merely
the transition to a new chapter in our lives. What new happiness will
we pursue? Our unalienable right implies
motion, a chase of time away from the past. Just
as the victory parade moves forward, it’s easier to join
a celebration than reflect upon the losses of yesterday
with the stilled emotions of sadness.
About a hundred years ago poet
Rainer Maria Rilke wrote: “People have, with the
help of conventions, oriented all their solutions toward
the easy and toward the easiest side of easy. But it is
clear we must hold to what is difficult; everything
alive holds to it, everything in nature grows and
defends itself in its own way, and characteristically
and spontaneously seeks to be itself at all costs and
against all opposition.”
Sadness can evoke itself as
spontaneously as a smile delivered in a moment of bliss.
But as a human emotion it is the more difficult
to endure. Why must we hold it? What might it promise?
Could compassion be its flowering jewel that can only
bloom if we defend the right of sadness to have a place
in our hearts?
With history as our judge it’s clear the more
difficult work for all of humankind is to hold onto peace. If we imagine the “Y” for peace is the smile
overturned, then maybe peace itself is saddened by
humanity’s rush towards happiness. Our collective
compassion won’t bloom into lasting peace if we imagine
that the end of any war should deliver only smiles. If we
still our minds to let in the truth of sadness, peace
will reveal the difficulty of the work ahead of us.
September Events
Feature film based on true events,
In the Valley of Elah has the power to create emotion,
response, and discussion across America as our soldiers return home from Iraq. Directed
by Paul Haggis and starring Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize
Theron, James
Franco and Susan Sarandon.
Special Seattle Screenings
Thursday, Sept. 6 at 7:00 PM, Harvard Exit
Theater, 807 East Roy St., Seattle
Wednesday, Sept. 12 at 7:00PM, Meridian 16
Cinemas, 1501 7th Ave., Seattle
Followed by a Q & A Panel Discussion led by Andrew
Himes, executive director of the Voices in Wartime
Education Project.
Release Dates:
September 14:
BOSTON, CHICAGO,
LOS ANGELES, NEW YORK, SAN FRANCISCO,
SEATTLE,
WASHINGTON
September 21: IN
THEATERS EVERYWHERE
KCTS TV Seattle - The War -
September 23 in Partnership with Voices
The PBS affiliate station in Seattle, Channel 9, is
partnering with the Voices in Wartime Education Project
to present the new Ken Burns documentary, The War, which
tells the story of World War 2 from the point of view of
scores of people from four diverse communities in the
US. Andy Himes, Executive Director of Voices in Wartime, will facilitate several
KCTS gatherings of WW2 vets and community members, and
KCTS is helping raise funds for a new WW2 module of the
Voices in Wartime Curricula.
http://www.kcts.org/thewar/
Sneak Previews beginning September 9.
http://www.kcts.org/thewar/events/index.asp#9/9/2007
for times and locations.
South Sound Voices, Olympia WA - September 26
The South Sound Voices education project, in collaboration with
Voices in Wartime and the Northwest SPokenword LAB (SpLAB,) presents
five outstanding poets who articulate the effects of war and invite
reflection on these losses and prevention of future wars.
Sam Hamill, recipient of 2005 Washington Poets
Association Lifetime Achievement Award
Dunya Mikhail, Iraqi-American, awarded the U.N. Human
Rights Award for Freedom of Writing
Bill Ransom, humanitarian and Evergreen
State College
dean
Sarah Zale weaves art and poetry from her recent
travels to
Palestine
and
Israel
Ray Seitz, a
Vietnam Veteran
7 p.m. at the Minnaert Center for the Performing Arts, South Puget Sound
Community College, 2011 Mottman Rd SW, Olympia, WA --
Tickets $11.24; students with ID free. Donations welcome.
Go to
www.brownpapertickets.com/event/18376
Soldier’s Heart is a veterans’ return and healing
project founded by psychologist Ed Tick, addressing the
emotional and spiritual needs of veterans, their
families and communities. Soldier’s Heart promotes and
guides community-based efforts to heal the effects of
war. The largest national Soldier's Heart workshop, in
Wheaton, Illinois September 13 to 16, will feature a
screening and discussion of the film Voices in
Wartime.
http://www.soldiersheart.net/Home/Events/DetailEvent.aspx?EventID=134
Home -
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About the Movie -
http://voicesinwartime.org/movie.htm
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http://voicesinwartime.org/about.htm
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