A Poem For John McCain and the Ladies Who Love him...

Thank you, Obama, for asking supporters not to show up at the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) Rules and Bylaws meeting on Saturday. Because the meeting is in DC and there are bus loads of Clinton supporters pouring in, I was wondering if we needed a counter-protest, and what a relief to be encouraged to stay home. It is a signal that the Obama campaign has faith in the process. For Obama supporters there is nothing at this point for us to protest. And protesting against Clinton supporters would only serve to further inflame emotions and increase the divide within our party. This kind of wisdom and cool-headed response reinforces my confidence in Obama.

I apologize for not being a more consistent Blogger. I promise to do more writing and less fretting...

In the meanwhile, I want to direct your attention to a recently published interview I conducted with Farideh Hassansadeh, an Iranian poet who tells of her life during war years, her thoughts about the current conflict, the role of poetry in political struggle, the popularity of women poets in Iran. A very moving story, published in Foreign Policy in Review.....

I met Farideh via organizing work with DC Poets against the War - she is a spirited woman and fabulous poet.

Here is an excerpt:

As we begin our fifth year of this illegal immoral war in Iraq and continue our war in Afghanistan, the impact of this war on our veterans is on my mind, partly because Congress has framed the debate as if taking any action to reduce funding or curtail the war would hurt those fighting.

My husband and I had the opportunity to attend the United for Peace and Justice protest here in Washington, DC, and to attend this time as photographers and observers, rather than as participants. It just worked out that way, we only had about an hour to spend at the protest, so we thought recording the event would be the best contribution we could make.

We came up after the march had begun and protesters were making their way onto the memorial bridge. By accident, we walked up through the ranks of the counter-protesters, a couple hundred of them, mostly Vietnam Veterans and their families. We were pleased that there was no barrier between the protesters and counter protesters, and we were able to stand in the margin between the two, alongside the police and a few other photographers.