Showing posts with label Dunya Mikhail. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dunya Mikhail. Show all posts

Friday, June 10, 2016

Another Planet

I have a special ticket
to another planet
beyond this Earth.
A comfortable world, and beautiful:
a world without much smoke,
not too hot
and not too cold.
The creatures
are gentler there,
and the governments
have no secrets.
The police are nonexistent:
there are no problems
and no fights.
And the schools
don’t exhaust their students
with too much work
for history has yet to start
and there’s no geography
and no other languages.
And even better:
the war
has left its “r behind
and turned into love,
so the weapons sleep
beneath the dust,
and the planes pass by
without shelling the cities,
and the boats
look like smiles
on the water.
All things
are peaceful
and kind
on the other planet
beyond this Earth.
But still I hesitate
to go alone.
 
from: The Iraqi Nights. Copyright 2013. 
 

Friday, March 18, 2011

I HAVE NO WORDS . . . WAR NUMBER THREE LOOMS . . . HOW DO WE WAKE UP FROM THIS NIGHTMARE?


"U.N. okays military action on Libya"

"So, I Guess We Are At War With Libya Now"

"For Obama, a Double Conflict"

When I think of war, for me, it's by default a ... lose-lose case. I believe there's no winner in the war because, you know, the killed one dies physically and the killer dies morally. So they are both dead. - Dunya Mikhail, NPR interview.

The War Works Hard     
by Dunya Mikhail
(trans. by Elizabeth Winslow)

How magnificent the war is!
How eager
and efficient!
Early in the morning
it wakes up the sirens
and dispatches ambulances
to various places
swings corpses through the air
rolls stretchers to the wounded
summons rain
from the eyes of mothers
digs into the earth
dislodging many things
from under the ruins...
Some are lifeless and glistening
others are pale and still throbbing...
It produces the most questions
in the minds of children
entertains the gods
by shooting fireworks and missiles
into the sky
sows mines in the fields
and reaps punctures and blisters
urges families to emigrate
stands beside the clergymen
as they curse the devil
(poor devil, he remains
with one hand in the searing fire)...
The war continues working, day and night.
It inspires tyrants
to deliver long speeches
awards medals to generals
and themes to poets
it contributes to the industry
of artificial limbs
provides food for flies
adds pages to the history books
achieves equality
between killer and killed
teaches lovers to write letters
accustoms young women to waiting
fills the newspapers
with articles and pictures
builds new houses
for the orphans
invigorates the coffin makers
gives grave diggers
a pat on the back
and paints a smile on the leader's face.
It works with unparalleled diligence!
Yet no one gives it
a word of praise.

Copyright 2005. from: The War Works Hard.


painting of a field of pale blue crosses some with Jewish and Muslim symbols on dark blue background

 "EACH WAR IS DIFFERENT, EACH WAR IS THE SAME"