My favourite contemporary poem..

[diane]

I am not entirely sure if I can 'publish' this, but this poem moved me enormously when performed for me [and a room full of others] a few years ago.

To help you understand the context, the 'you know when' is 9/11..and this poem does not in any way diminish the enormity of that date, but seek to bring other 'enormities' into context.

Anyhoo...here is the poem, I hear it in the way it was spoken for me, I hope however you hear it, it means as much to you.

On the first anniversary of you-know-when
they held a ceremony.
The names of the dead were carefully read out,
as if each name was a special and delicate seedling,
each reader seeming to imply:
"That particular office worker, burning,
instead of him
it could've been me."

It took them two and a half hours to read the names
so I decided I wanted to perform a poem
reading out the names of everyone killed
since 1998 in the Congo War.
The only thing that stopped me
was the cruel cost
of all the lager and twiglets needed
to sustain the audience for 4 months and 3 weeks.

War is an insinuating therapist
challenging our belief
that everyone is equally special and delicate.
The challenge is to be able to say:
"That particular child-soldier, machine-gunned,
instead of him
it could've been me."
Even though it plainly couldn't.

The page link to see the author, and other poems, is http://www.willholloway.com/equallydead.htm