Poetry & Poets in Rags of April 10 Options

[rus bowden]

Dear Poetry Aficionados,

Poetry & Poets in Rags blog

Two important stories developing this week in world poetry. First, we lost Reed Whittemore, this after last week's passing of Adrienne Rich. A tribute to Reed Whittemore from the Washington Post is the very last story in our last section, Poetic Obituaries.

Our first story in our first section, News at Eleven, contains itself eleven links. Günter Grass wrote a poem, stupidly mischaracterizing situations in the Middle East. This has led Israel to stupidly label him a persona non grata, unwelcome in that county, and subsequently for a movement to flame and apparently flicker out to have Günter Grass' Nobel Prize rescinded.

To those who would attack poets, especially nations: stop it. The creative process is such that a poet must be free to write, and to write bad poetry, poetry with bad ideas even. We cannot have the good stuff without the bad stuff. Can't do it. Won't happen. That's how poetry writing works. It is a-national, outside isms, as if it comes from muse gods. A nation that persecute or even kills poets is a tyrannical and oppressive nation in direct relation to how much it persecutes poets. The treatment of poets may be the best barometer to a nation's true freedom. In some nations, such as China, writing against those in charge can mean long-term imprisonment, as they have done with Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo. But imprisoning poets is not beyond the UK, nor the USA, and stems from ignorance in a democratic nation. Israel crossed that line when they banned Grass. I'll leave all other stories to your discovery but to mention that our second story is about another poet whose banning from Israel was overturned--just this week.

Thanks for clicking in.

Yours,
Rus

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