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| Britain |
| The peace movement’s fight has gone |
| 2004-05-07 |
| Lloyd Evans - Features Column EFL ...To be fair, the raw ingredients of poetry are certainly present here, namely language and feeling. Some of these efforts are not a million miles away from becoming poetry, in the way that a cow in a field is not a million miles away from becoming a hamburger. But a number of technical refinements will be required first: lyricism, music, metaphor, imagination, a sense of pace and rhythm, habits of verbal organisation, the feel for a resonant phrase that lingers in the mind after the page has been turned. All these are lacking from nearly all of these poems. Nor is there much political sophistication. Robin Lim (‘volunteer midwife in Indonesia and author of Eating Wisely For Two’) condemns the lies of her ‘so-called President’. And Di Brandt (‘teacher of creative writing and author of questions i asked my mother’) has a pithier summary of her leader: ‘like Herod, like Hitler, like Bush’. Ironic that the West’s leadership should be demonised here in exactly the same way that, according to the protesters, the West simplifies and vilifies Islam. The Coalition’s motives are likewise reduced to crude shorthand. Greed, oil-thirst, blood-lust and a batty desire to build a 1,000-year Reich from the profits of milkshakes and Mickey Mouse concessions. These are the only motives the anthology acknowledges. Deft knifework in the Poets Corner. |
| Posted by:mrp |
| #8 "The only honorable peace that's to be had right now is after the war on terror has been won." Which won't be the case, Zipperface, if we put your pals the Dimocrats in high office! (or in any office that matters) |
| Posted by: Jen 2004-05-07 10:45:09 PM |
| #7 The peace movement’s fight has gone Shucky darn, maybe that's because it's the time to kick @ss and take names. The only honorable peace that's to be had right now is after the war on terror has been won. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-05-07 10:39:13 PM |
| #6 What sort of idiots are they?! Bush is doing a darn fine job, so far. As long as he doesn't... |
| Posted by: Anonymous4065 2004-05-07 2:01:07 PM |
| #5 Oh yeah, and next time, if you link to a site that requires a username and password, GIVE THE NECESSARY LOGIN INFORMATION, for pete's sake. Nothing like staring at an "access denied" password-protected article. |
| Posted by: gromky 2004-05-07 1:59:12 PM |
| #4 I prefer the term, "cranio-rectal inversion" myself. It's got that ring to it. |
| Posted by: gromky 2004-05-07 1:58:03 PM |
| #3 I think the medical condition they have is more properly termed rectal cranial insertion. It's the only medical condition where the victim is not the person with the condition....but the rest of us who have to deal with the moron. |
| Posted by: Desert Blondie 2004-05-07 1:56:27 PM |
| #2 Yes, Steve from Relto, the condition is called Anencephaly. Very common amongst the current anti-war crop, only they don't seem to realize it is a fatal condition yet |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-05-07 12:29:14 PM |
| #1 Well, I guess many must have died. I mean, one cannot keep going without a brain, right? |
| Posted by: Steve from Relto 2004-05-07 12:01:02 PM |