Sunday, April 28, 2013

The cruelest month: Food for the flies


I first heard Dunya Mikhail talk about her poetry in an NPR story. That same day, I bought her collection of poems called The War Works Hard, and my National Poetry Month offering for today is the title poem from that book.

Looking back at the stuff I’ve shared this month, five of the poems (six, as of today) are associated with war. (I’m counting “Ulysses”, because—while not about a specific war—it’s in the voice of a crafty old soldier.) That tells you something about me.

I study war, and I take a broad approach to the subject, trying to get an understanding through more than just which battalion was on what hill. Literary works, paintings, photographs, music—that’s how humans apprehend phenomena that are the size of war.

Mikhail is a master poet. Whether she’s writing about a cobbler, a bag of bones or exile, she encompasses huge emotions in a minimum of words. Every one of those words packs tremendous power. Look for yourself.

The War Works Hard

How magnificent the war is!
How eager and efficient!
Early in the morning it wakes up the sirens
and dispatches ambulances to various places
swings corpses through the air
rolls stretchers to the wounded
summons rain from the eyes of mothers
digs into the earth
dislodging many things from under the ruins...
Some are lifeless and glistening
others are pale and still throbbing...
It produces the most questions
in the minds of children
entertains the gods
by shooting fireworks and missiles
into the sky
sows mines in the fields
and reaps punctures and blisters
urges families to emigrate
stands beside the clergymen
as they curse the devil
(poor devil, he remains
with one hand in the searing fire)...
The war continues working, day and night.
It inspires tyrants
to deliver long speeches
awards medals to generals
and themes to poets
it contributes to the industry
of artificial limbs
provides food for flies
adds pages to the history books
achieves equality
between killer and killed
teaches lovers to write letters
accustoms young women to waiting
fills the newspapers
with articles and pictures
builds new houses
for the orphans 
invigorates the coffin makers
gives grave diggers a pat on the back
and paints a smile on the leader's face.
It works with unparalleled diligence!
Yet no one gives it
a word of praise.

Hear Mikhail read some of her poems here. You’ll be doing yourself a mitzvah.


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