I found this great poem by Jameson Fitzpatrick in January's "Poetry" magazine, and I think you should give it a read. I decided it would be too difficult to just take a section of it and post, so that is why I linked the whole thing. Considering how things in this blog have progressed, linking it is likely political.
I was looking, but couldn't find it quickly, so I will either forget about it or search later for the line of Whitman I was seeking, one where he sees no difference in the young men sent to war by either side during the Civil War. It will probably haunt me until I can find it and share it.
Speaking of Whitman, "Long, Too Long America" is one I transcribed onto my FB feed. I got several likes, and then of course someone decided to make the poem political, and said the screaming was from liberals or some such thing. After a calm comment from me about one beauty of poetry was that people could interpret it as they will, especially when the author is long gone. This earned another response of some sort, and I eventually said:
The fact you immediately jumped to something derogatory and negative in your interpretation of the poem, while I was basically using it as a reminder that this country has been divided before, and that we made it through once, and will again, means we really don't see the world in the same way, and our perspectives aren't likely to jibe often. Whitman's war poetry is filled with the blood of young soldiers, and the horrors daily seen, and so there are lamentations also included, but there is also the hope that we will come out whole as a country, and this hope is what carries the poems.
After that, there was little more to be said, and he did sort of apologize. Perhaps we are so polarized because we not everyone is willing to compromise on their vision for this country, a country that has historically and consistently demonized immigrants, but has somehow managed to keep accepting them. We are a country of immigrants, and to deny that is to deny history, and to claim that immigrants have always been openly accepted is also to deny history, since just prior to WWII the US refused to allow a ship of Jewish refugees to disembark. History is dark and sometimes unpleasant, and though they claim it is written by the winners, we all lose if the other voices are completely silenced. With the current methods terrorists seem to enjoy, I think a thorough vetting of immigrants is fair and just, and that vetting got even more thorough when it was discovered some were allowed into the country, only to have them attempt to send money to terrorist organizations. Slowing the process down and increasing the scrutiny was a valid answer, banning people outright fleeing from countries at war is not a measured answer, it is a panic answer that does no good, but does manage to alienate our allies, and make life infinitely more difficult for those fleeing their homes.
Ironically, VP Pence is staunchly pro-life, but a dead three year old boy lying on a beach deserves nothing because he is muslim? Something tells me that VP Pence is only pro-life if there is a chance the child will be brought up as a good Christian.
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