In which I examine why Americans turned to Auden’s “September 1, 1939” on September 11, 2001–and how the poem still offers us solace and hope in the face of Trumpism.
Tag Archives: World War II
9-11 and Auden’s “September 1, 1939”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "September 1 1939", Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, W. H. Auden Comments closed
Paul Celan on Fascism’s Horrors
Paul Celan’s “Death Fugue,” about the Holocaust, reads differently during the Israel-Gaza conflict.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "September 1 1939", Death Fugue, Holocaust, Israel and Gaza, Paul Celan, W. H. Auden Comments closed
Dec. 7 & Watching One’s Son Go to War
Today being Pearl Harbor Day, I share a Gwendolyn Brooks poem about a mother who loses her son to the war.
New Monument Protected against Witchery
The new Ancestral Footprints National Monument closes the land to uranium mining. Leslie Marmon Silko should be glad.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Ancestral Footprints National Monument, atomic bomb, Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni, Ceremony, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Joe Biden, Leslie Marmon Silko, uranium mining, witchery Comments closed
Tony Bennett, WWII, and Race Activism
Learning about late singer Tony Bennett’s life has opened up new insights into my father, also a World War II vet and civil rights activist.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "The Greatest Generation", Civil Rights Movement, racism, Scott Bates, Tony Bennett Comments closed
English Patient Taught Me about My Father
“The English Patient” has given me a valuable new perspective on my father–which is another good reason why we should all read novels.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged atom bombs, British fascism, Dachau, English Patient, fathers and sons, Hiroshima, Michael Ondaatje, Nagasaki Comments closed
Putin Is Giving War a Bad Name
Some who support fascists would prefer that they stay clean. Brecht has something to say about them.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "War Has Been Given a Bad Name", Bertolt Brecht, Holocaust, Ukraine invasion, Vladimir Putin Comments closed
Zelenskyy Cites a Russian Poem
In an attempt to shame the Russian invaders, the Ukraine president cited a popular Russian poem.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Do the Russians Want War", Ukraine, Ukraine invasion, Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Yevguein Yevtushenko Comments closed
The Horror and the Idiocy of War
A Scott Bates poem about World War II captures the reality of war, which is the opposite of glamorous.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Greatest Generation", Pearl Harbor Day, Scott Bates Comments closed
