Friends,

In our previous issue we published Peri’s poems which created a sensation among our readers. Most of the reactions were expressions about the feelings of love and hate in those poems. I want to quote her in a quite different issue this time, and that is war. Peri says-

I don’t believe any more.
Even the death of my own child in the war
seems like a poetic lie.
Bombs had no reason to kill the children
They are made for enemy positions.

I was watching a program on the National Geography channel regarding the effect of the Afghan war on common people. The Mir, the child hero of documentary who lived in a cave in the mountains had a dream just as other common people. When Mir’s father dreamed for no more burning of shops, home and cities, Mir dreamed to be a teacher. They felt cheated by every one who came to help them.

I got a letter from Joop Bersee, a poet friend who sent me a poem (even though he says this is not a poem). I again feel a cry against war in those lines. Joop Bersee gave me this piece only for reading, not for publication.

But I want my readers to read these lines and feel the pain… the pain of Mir, the pain of a number of people who suffer on account of wars, directly and indirectly, along with a number of people in my country who were forced to leave their places because of a hidden war.

Let us read Joop’s poem as our voice this time-


"Why I Continue to Disbelieve in the War in Iraq"

Because war is a lie.
Because this war is based on a lie, as we all know.
Because people want democracy but not the democracy of G.W. Bush.
Because G.W. Bush is a liar.
Because the President of the United States is a liar.
Because the 'most powerful man in the world' is a liar.
Because the president of the USA is a dumb ass (see the thousands of cartoons about him).
Because his pet called Blair is a liar.
Because it is all about oil.
Because he already planned this war before he became president.
Because he loves to dominate.
Because certain people get rich because of this war.
Because his friends get rich because of this war.
Because the friends of his friends...
Because innocent people are being killed.
Because fathers and mothers want their children to have a life.
Because fathers and mothers don't want their children to die a heroic death.
Because a friend lying dead in a coffin is not what your dear ones want to see.
Because war creates more war.
Because war creates extremism.
Because extremism kills.
Because killing is wrong.
Because being proud of the left leg and a few fingers of your son in a coffin killed in combat doesn't make sense.
Because killing to make this planet a safer place is a lie.
Because sending soldiers to a second Vietnam is a crime.
Bacause the wounds of Vietnam are still raw.
Because there are still dead soldiers in Vietnam waiting in vain for peace and affection.
Because some will never touch American soil again.
Because many of those killed were literally blasted to pieces by bombing.
Because people are still being killed today in Vietnam by unexploded ordinance, particularly cluster bomblets.
Because the film is on repeat but the title is this time Iraq.
Because of the 2800+ soldiers killed in Iraq.
Because killing your own people is a crime.
Because humiliating people is a crime.
Because revenge is not an option.
Because revenge is no answer.
Because life is more precious than death.
Because those killed were killed because of the lie of the liar of all liars.
Because Nixon was a boyscout compared to Bush.
Because the world has become a more dangerous place.
Because more people will get killed; it might even be you, thanks to a president who believes.
Because the lives of mothers and fathers are destroyed.
Because children are now without a father.
Because a father never had a chance when they sent him there.
Because the mother never had a chance when they sent her there.
Because no matter what they say, we will never run out of tears.
Because we will cry an ocean and we have no ark.
Because people killed by a lie will never return.
Because their tombs will always talk to us.
Because America is not the earth's police.
Because a soldier returns home and becomes a human being again.
Because there won't be enough doctors and money to treat all the soldiers with trauma's.
Because some soldiers will become drug addicts, thieves, murderers because they were told to kill.
Because children will ask us why?
Because we have to tell our children a lie.
Because most people thought the president was right.
Because we found out he is a liar.
Because he killed our children.
Because he destroys families.
Because of him thousands of veterans will commit suicide.
Because more hard drugs are needed to numb the souls of veterans.
Because those who leave in the name of democracy return without a future.
Because no future starts with war.
Because there are already so many war graves.
Because of all the names of those who died so far.
Names of Americans.
Because of the names of those who are still alive at this precise moment in time
but will be dead within ten minutes by a roadside bomb or suicide bomber.
Because there is no one who can say anything positive about this war without feeling a murderer deep inside.
Because we are afraid to dig inside ourselves and see what we are really like, in the name of freedom.
Because soldiers don't have the freedom to stop killing.
Because they are told to kill.
Because the flag on a coffin doesn't hide its contents.
Because a flag in a mother's arms looks ugly.
Because the emptiness eats and eats a bigger hole, never to be filled with alcohol.
Because we could have had grandchildren.
Because there are too many people who understand exactly what it is to lose a child.
Because the pharmaceutiocal industry is rich as it is. 15
Because your war will never bring stability.
Because democracy wants the soldiers out of Iraq, out of other countries.
Because democracy has never been a firing squad.
Because democracy is the majority.
Because Americans want this war to stop, ask CNN.
Because Americans do not want a second Vietnam.
Because Americans do not believe in this president.
Because the president has no respect for the lives of his fellow countrymen.
Because people are tired of the newspaper articles and their photographs with remains.
Because all what remains is a big hole in the ground to be filled with the dead in the name of lies.
Because Americans do not kill children.
Because Americans respect others and their right to lead a normal life.
Because Americans want to be proud again of their country.
Because America is not George Bush.

26.0ct.06.JB.

Friends, do we need to speak more about war? No, I do not think so. We all know, why we hate wars!

This month, Kritya presents Tom Merrill's  poems in the Editor’s choice and also some of his paintings  We have a number of contemporary poets in action as well. In our Masters section we have  Rainer Maria Rilke . Octai Etrai is presenting the study on Madhouse, a poem which attracted our readers in previous issue. The paintings depicted here in this issue are by a well-known young artist from India, Vijendra S. Vij .The sketches in this issue are created by a musician and painter Avines Kose of Chattisgarh of India.

Rati Saxena
 

The poems, articles and reviews published in Kritya are received by e-mail. The views, themes etc. expressed therein are solely those of the respective writers, and not of the publishers or editors of Kritya. The credentials of the writers are those that they provide via e-mails and most of the writers are not personally known to the publishers and editors.