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Poets to gather to protest war with Iraq
(CNN) -- A group of poets who have emerged as opponents to military action against Iraq are scheduled to have a reading Monday night in New York. Playwright Arthur Miller, rapper Mos Def and at least four former U.S. poets laureate, including Rita Dove and Stanley Kunitz, will be among the artists and performers appearing at "Poems Not Fit for the White House," an antiwar gathering to be held Monday at Lincoln Center in New York. The reading is the latest offshoot of a movement that began with a canceled White House poetry symposium. One of the poets invited to that event, Copper Canyon Press publisher Sam Hamill, sent an open letter of protest to first lady Laura Bush. Hamill's missive, e-mailed to a handful of friends across the country, led to other poets taking up the cause. Even U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins has said he opposes war with Iraq and is finding it difficult to keep politics out of his work. The first lady subsequently canceled the symposium, saying she "did not believe poetry should be used for political purposes." Nevertheless, Hamill soon established a Web site, www.poetsagainstthewar.org, which has gathered more than 10,000 poems from 9,000 poets in less than a month. The group also has sponsored a number of public performances. On February 12 -- the date the White House symposium had been scheduled to occur -- more than 160 readings were performed in countries around the world during "National Poetry Against the War Day." Other readings took place this past weekend. Silence 'is unconscionable'
In Manchester, Vermont, poet Jay Parini and several other Green Mountain State-linked poets and writers gathered at a church Sunday for "A Poetry Reading In Honor of the Right of Protest as a Patriotic and Historical Tradition," The Associated Press reported. Before an overflow crowd of about 600, poets read works of their own and other poets who were to be featured at the White House event, the AP said. Organizers said the Bushes were invited but did not respond, according to the AP. "For poets to remain silent at a time of national crisis is unconscionable," said Parini, a Middlebury College professor who had planned to read an anti-war poem at the White House event. "Poets from the time of ancient Athens have raised voices in protest." The AP said Sunday's lineup included Pulitzer Prize winner Galway Kinnell and incoming state poet laureate Grace Paley, both Vermonters and longtime peace activists. "What happened in the last few days has really been so encouraging, so hope-making," Paley told the audience, referring to peace protests around the world. "And I really feel that the rise of the poets had a lot to do with it happening everywhere in the world." Critical commentaryThe poets' antiwar activity has picked up its share of criticism. "Much of this [protest] translates into straightforward anti-Americanism," wrote J. Bottum in the conservative publication The Weekly Standard. "There may be serious arguments against war with Iraq, but the antiwar poets have proved thus far unwilling to make them -- for the very idea of seriousness means growing up: turning back and taking responsibility, as adults, for this world we never made." However, literary protests, as Bottum notes, have a long history. In 1965, the Lyndon Johnson White House sponsored an arts festival that was to include readings from several writers. After poet Robert Lowell turned down an invitation to express his opposition to the Vietnam War, he prompted a small tempest of hand-wringing. Antiwar poetry also has a long history. W.H. Auden wrote sadly about the opening of World War II in "September 1, 1939"; Wilfred Owen, a casualty of World War I, wrote movingly of his experiences in that war. Homer's "Iliad," the story of the Trojan War, is as much about the price of battle as it is about bravery and courage. For his part, Hamill said he's just trying to offer a voice. "So many poets I know have opposed the Bush war plans, but like a lot of people against this thing, they've felt solitary and isolated," he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "This protest gives us a way to make a statement." Copyright 2003 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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