Friend: Download This Free Proclamation for Local Use
Kim Stafford
Whereas the world is a house on fire;
Whereas the nations are filled with shouting;
Whereas hope seems small, sometimes
a single bird on a wire
left by migration behind.
Whereas kindness is seldom in the news
and peace an abstraction
while war is real;
Whereas my words are all I have;
Whereas my life is short;
Whereas I am afraid;
Whereas I am free—despite all
fire and anger and fear;
Be it therefore resolved a song
shall be my calling—a song
not yet made shall be vocation
and peaceful words the work
of my remaining days.
Published in 2004 as a limited-edition broadside by Knight Library Press in Eugene.
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July 23, 2004 |
Kim Stafford
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2 comments
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Jul 23, '04
Ah, such a peaceful, cool treat on a hot day. Thank you.
11:49 a.m.
Jul 24, '04
After 9/11, when Americans were looking for insight into the political condition, they discovered previously hidden depths to the problem. The usual screamers and lecturers on the pundit circle suddenly looked obscene and deluded. Americans turned away from their superficiality and--for a time--sought solace in the words of poets and songwriters. I'm delighted to see some poetry on this page--it reminds me of a fuller sense of what we should understand when we say "politics."
Thanks.