Action Poets - New series of interviews with activist poets.
Poetry represents a path toward enlightenment
Birgitta Jonsdottir interviews Sam Hamill the founder of Poets Against the War

Intro:
Poetry should speak to people as the only sane voice in an insane world. Poetry should be that light at the end of the deep dark tunnel. Poetry should move into the reader like a beacon of truth at times when war is peace and peace is war, and show the rest of us that peace will always be peace and war is always war. Some of the greatest poets of all ages have been willing to take risks, even risk their own mortal life. In the last 20 years it looked like that role had vanished in the western world. Perhaps like many artists poets got caught up in the selfish act of forgetting their original role as oracles and seers, as warriors of words, advisers to kings and the voice of the public. Perhaps many gave up and perhaps those that didn't couldn't find any venue for their work. Silenced into a world of comfort zones. It is possible that we all fell asleep because the consuming simply became a full time work. It is hard to say but when the need is great, that is when the poets rise again and again with their sharp word swords to cut through the illusion, to sharpen the truth yet again and to offer ways to see the world through the eye of the poet. In these times when we are drowning in altered information that doesn't make much sense, some brave people have stepped out and spoken with soft but clear voices. Some people have stood up when everyone remained seated in a confused slumber and encouraged the rest of us to stand up and do something.

I have been fortunate to be able to witness first hand the great change that is occurring within the international poetry community. Poets all over the world are reclaiming their roles as warriors of words. They have been by far the most outspoken risk-taking group of people when it comes to speak up against the war. One of the people that started this wave is Sam Hamill. He founded Poets Against the War and has been willing to risk it all for the sake of the freedoms that are slowly being chipped away from the North American public. Poets Against the War helped inspire and organize events all over the world as a form of protest against the war in Iraq. His team opened a web-site where poets where offered to submit their work as a form of protest and that web-site has now more then 13.000 poems. They have also created an anthology from the electronic version and that book is now a best seller. Poets Against the War also teamed up with other anti-war and human rights organizations to broaden and deepen the opposition to the Bush administration’s policies.

The spark for Poets Against the War Sam says was his invitation to the White House by Laura Bush to a symposium on Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and Langston Hughes, scheduled for February 12, 2003. But it was truly born in the hearts of each of us long before the naively planned and quickly “postponed” symposium. The “postponement” continues today, the White House having faced its only public humiliation when we rose in unison to defend not only our nation’s conscience, but also poetry itself.

The Interview:

Who is Sam Hamill and why was he, a known activist since the sixties, asked to the White House at such a crucial time, just as all the war hype and preparations was at its peak? I felt I needed to know why Sam responded the way he did and his role as a political poet.

Q: Why didn’t you just accept what many poets would have though was a great honor. An official invitation to honor some of the greatest poets in US history?

A: It was only a couple of days after Bush’s State of the Union speech where he "made his case" for attacking Iraq, and I’d read on line about his proposed "Shock and Awe" attack. The U.S. has a long ugly history of bombing other countries—40 countries since the end of WW II. Bush was not elected President; Gore won the popular vote, but the Bush people corrupted and stole the election. And then, long before September 11, 2001, they began their plans to attack Iraq. The U.S. Congress, following Al Qaeda’s attack on us, had voted to "trust" Bush, giving him the power to wage this war. But he showed contempt for the U.N., contempt for the rules of international law, and deliberately deceived the American people.

I could not go to the White House and see these people attempt to co-opt Walt Whitman, who I’m certain would have despised this administration; co-opt Emily Dickinson who would have been appalled by Bush’s lies and double-dealings; or co-opt Langston Hughes, a poet the FBI tracked for twenty years because of his political curiosity and convictions.

Q: What is your background.

A: I co-founded and am editor of Copper Canyon Press (the largest not-for-profit publisher of poetry in the U.S.) in 1974. I have published a dozen volumes of original poetry, and more than two dozen volumes of poetry translated from classical Chinese, Japanese, Greek, Latin and Estonian, and three volumes of essays. I’ve been awarded a number of major fellowships and other honors. I taught in American prisons for 14 years, devoted twenty years to work with battered women and children, and have been a practicing Zen Buddhist for forty years. I’ve always been politically engaged, and ran (unsuccessfully) for California legislature in 1968, was active in anti-war activities in the Viet Nam era. And, much to the chagrin of the right wing, I am a former U. S. Marine, having served four years in the early 60s.

Q: Do you think poetry and politics have anything in common?

A: Homer is political. Sappho is political. Tu Fu and Po Chu-I are political. In some ways, virtually all poetry is political simply because it is refined social speech. Poetry and politics are both ultimately about character and vision and compassion (or the absence thereof).

Q: What is your vision of poets in our world today? Why should poets speak out?

A: One shoe size doesn’t fit all. Some poets are, like myself, overtly political; others leave the politics to what is suggested or implied. But in times of crisis, poets have always spoken on behalf of suffering humanity, on behalf of values and character. Poetry is a product of necessity. In this case, American poets faced an illiterate and irresponsible media that kept asking again and again, "Why can’t you leave the politics out of your poetry?" As if that would be better. No society has a history of poetry that is apolitical. Even a simple love poem has political implications.

We also faced an administration that has corrupted our Constitution and has rudely shunted aside any voice of disagreement. We felt we must defend poetry itself, as well as reminding people of its real and useful role in every culture.

Q: Do you think poetry can change our world?

A: Did Homer change the world? Did Shakespeare? Did Dante? Did that little love poem from your paramour make a difference in a day or an hour of your life? The mere act of trying to write a good poem changes the world because it brings our attention to the real power of language and the music within language and the enlightening powers of metaphor and image. One battered woman seeks a safe haven, and a world is changed. One poet refuses to commit murder (and that’s what war is), and the world is changed.

Do you think music or dance or drama or film can change our world? Art matters.

Q: In your letter at the poets against the war web-site you encourage other poets to work actively to get Bush out of office. Why?

A: Because I believe in Constitutional rule; because I believe Bush represents the rise of a fascist state. Mussolini said the perfection of fascism was rooted in "the marriage of corporation and state," and that’s exactly what we’re getting. Bush is owned by the big money of international conglomerate corporations like Haliburton and Bechtel, and as long as money rules American politics and political office, we are threatened with the continued corruption of our Constitutional rights and civil liberties.

And it’s not just the war. Bush is the worst president on environmental issues in the country’s history. He’s the worst for working class people. His contempt for the French, who in many ways inspired and informed our Constitution, is demonstrative of his contempt for other nations in general. And his deficit spending is the greatest in history.

Q: What has the regime in the US done to spark such anger and opposition within the poetry community?

A: See above. And add: because this administration (and the American right wing in general) is simply dishonest. They lie. Constantly. Where are the "weapons of mass destruction?" They lie about who benefits when Bush cuts taxes for the rich and cuts funds of Head Start or job training for the poor. Poets tend to be liberal humanists. This regime threatens our very way of life.

Q: What is your vision of the future of poets?

A: Poets will continue to be poets. They will do what poets have always done: search for ways to make their art of language and passion and compassion.

Q: What do you think of the word Terrorist? Has it lost its meaning after 911? Almost everything that is not in agreement with the regimes around the world is branded as terrorism. Even the people in Iraq that are fighting the occupation are branded as terrorists. If I can recall history correctly then the people in Denmark and France that worked against the occupation there where heroes and number of films been made to show their quest and heroism. Why do you think that people in such large numbers accept all the lies and hypocrisy that is given to them. Are they perhaps hungry for the truth but afraid of changes?

A: You answer your own question admirably. Americans have let ignorance and lies prevail, and that’s heartbreaking. The attack on Iraq was terrorism. Bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki was terrorism. Amnerican engagement in Viet Nam and Cambodia was terrorism. The CIA’s overthrowing of Allende (and Bush Sr’s role in it) was terrorism.

Thomas Jefferson said that true patriotism was born in acts of dissent. I love my country. But I do not for one instant believe that American lives are more valuable than Iraqi lives, or Italian lives. Truth is often painful, and the painful truth is, most Americans don’t know the history of this country, including its two centuries of genocide against Native American nations.

The foundation of my Buddhist practice is compassion, which begins with the practice of nonviolence. For me, poetry represents a path toward enlightenment.

Conclusion:
And that says it all, a big thank you to Sam for being who he is and for taking the path he has chosen to take.

If you want to be involved in Poets Against the War, send a poem or host an event go to http://www.poetsagainstthewar.org

Write a poem on the wall, write a poem in the sand, sing it, shout it, be it.

About Birgitta in the context of this interview
Birgitta organized two events in her native country Iceland as a part of the ripple effect Sam created by his action. One of the events was Poets against the War in Reykjavik Iceland and the other was Artists against the War in Reykjavik Iceland. Photos are from the event Artists Against the War.
If you know of an Action Poet that you would like to see interviewed or if you are one of those people, please contact Birgitta at birgitta@this.is

Back