notes for a poem not yet written, 4/29/03

Michelle Grabitz trying to use the blackest epithet, but it meant nothing to me, not personally, and I was too young and sheltered to have the cultural, African-American identity. Race never meant much to me, neither positive nor negative. So what did that word mean? It was jarring--the first time it's alarming, a physical shiver--but I felt no anger nor any shame. Her mouth had turned into a toad, and it leapt at me.

I don't know if anyone since has said the word about me, at least not to my face. But I cannot forget working at the window at the Burger King in Wooster, Ohio. The customer set his money on the ledge and stared forward. He collected his food the same way. Oh, the lack of recognition, to be treated as less than a robot, even less than a child--it shocked me into myself, made me acutely aware I was nothing like this Caucasian man. I was a collector of change, a doler of food, not worth wasting a single breath on.

Images: sitting on the hardwood basketball court, gym class; Michelle's hair shaking like sinister rain; left to stare at the roundness of my knee

flaking red pickup; the smell of searing beef; the thin coins flat against the slate grey ledge; the profile of the shaven face, stubble waiting to appear

Hopefully voters have wised up.

Ralph Nader to run for president

*laughs out loud*

Kerry and Edwards are going "head to head" on This Week on ABC.

Edwards' first response to Bush's trade policy was, "He's got it half right. He's for free trade, but not fair trade."

Kerry says, "He's for free trade, but not fair trade."

two poems by Sherod Santos

Both of these were published in this month's Poetry.

The Supplication


When I finally found her alone in her room,
I got down on all fours and begged for it,
Took her scented knees in my hands and from
Some aching place in me I raised the goblet
Of my supplication: "Won't you save the life
Of an old man who, for all intents and purposes,
Is almost dead? Whose numbered breaths now chafe
His lungs? An old man who, nonetheless,
Is saddled with the cravings of a teenage boy?"
I think it really got to her. A hot tear
Tracked her cheek, but as I pressed my plea
The tear dried up, and with what I feared
A gesture of revulsion, she raised her hand
To consign my wish to a never-never land.

--Rufinus, circa second to fifth century A.D.

( This one's even better )

by way of renwick

US war dissenter seeks asylum in Canada

US Army private Jeremy Hinzman fought in Afghanistan and considers himself a patriot. But when his unit was ordered to Iraq, he refused to go and embarked on a radical journey that could make legal history.

Private First Class Hinzman left the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, taking his wife and son to Canada. Officially, he is AWOL (absent without leave), and, instead of fighting insurgents, he is battling the US military in the Canadian courts.

Earlier this month, Private Hinzman, 25, filed legal papers to become the first US soldier objecting to the Iraq war to be granted refugee status in Canada. His case is expected to be a test of new Canadian immigration laws and the country's traditional role of accepting refugees from the US military.

[...] Speaking from Toronto, Private Hinzman said: "I signed up to defend my country, not carry out acts of aggression."

( Read more... )

more from renwick

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