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Poetry of Protest
Whether they are written on signs or spoken, protest slogans are, like poetry, messages of concentrated imagery and emotion that often employ techniques like alliteration and rhyming to connect with their audience. "The slogans vary from being very straight forward, like 'No more war, U.S. out of Iraq" to more humorous quips, like 'Stop Mad Cowboy Disease,' to throw backs to the hippie era, like 'Make love, not war,'" explained Laura Wasserman, of Nantucket's Peace and Justice Committee. Much like slam poetry, protest slogans also re-claim language of the opposing side in order to make a point. "Sometimes, we pull things out of the media, phrases that are being used, and use them for our purpose," said Wasserman, who often prepares signs in advance for pro- testers who show up empty-handed to march. "Like when the 'shock and awe' language came out, we had a sign that read 'Shock with love, awe with peace.'" Like slam poetry, protest language uses humor to establish a connection with its audience in little time. "Humor is definitely a vehicle for common ground, and in that sense you might be more likely to have a positive reaction," Wasserman said. "But it also evokes a more positive internal response in the protester. These are heavy issues we're dealing with, and activism can dog you and take its toll on the heart. And if you can look at it with some kind of levity, then I think, whether or not it uplifts someone else's spirit, at least it can uplift mine." Wasserman added that, much like poetry, different styles resonate with different people. "Some people like the dogmatic messages, and the really harsh messages that cut to the chase, or the ones that attack the administration. And some people like messages that are about peace and love and are very soft, or are issue-oriented," Wasserman said. "There has been an ongoing conversation since we started this, regarding the signs that are directed at attacking the administration; some people think we shouldn't use them and should send a bipartisan message, while other people disagree." (Wasserman said she prefers signs with poetic meter.) Wasserman's fellow Peace and Justice Committee members Maryjane Halliday and Larry Miller have kept every sign from the protest's they've held since the winter of 2001. Some of them are headlineesque jabs ("Not one more death, not one more dollar") and others have a rhyme scheme of almost grade-school simplicity ("Who dies for Bush's lies"). Altogether, the signs form a kind of abridged history of the progression of the war. Miller even incorporated lines from Shakespeare's "Henry VI" ("Now thou art come unto a feast of death") into one of his signs. "Henry VI is all about war. ... and in this scene, Talbot, the Earl of Shrewsbury, is camped outside of Bourdeaux, surrounded by the French," Miller explained. "There's no hope for his survivial, when suddenly his son gallops up on his horse. He tries to get his son to turn around and go back. That's when he said, 'Now thou art come upon a feast of death,' because he was trying to get his son to avoid the bloodbath that was to come. ...So I made a sign that used this quote and also said 'Stop feeding our troops into the slaughter in Iraq.'" But it isn't a one-way relationship; some of the most memorable poetry has borrowed from the spirit of protest, as well. Len Germinara, who hosts the Nantucket Poetry Slam, believes that any act of speaking out - even when it's done 30 miles off the mainland - is a form of civil participation meaningful to the whole country. "Anytime you stand up and express what you're feeling, you're basically being a poet. And anytime you stand up and state your truth, you're exercising your First Amendment rights," said Germinara, who has been active in the anti-war effort before even moving to Nantucket. He is a member of the community at Poetsagainsthewar.org. Last year, the Nantucket Poetry Slam and the Peace and Justice Committee joined forces to commemorate the anniversary. Judging from last year's turnout, Germinara said he expects a good number of people from the march on Friday to attend the poetry reading on Saturday. "The point of this weekend is just to have people to gather together, period, and publicly state what's being said behind closed doors all over the country," Germinara said. Of course, behind some closed doors there are also war supporters and Bush supporters, and Germinara said those people are also welcome to come to the poetry reading, stand at the microphone and recite poems stating their political beliefs. "We expect that kind of stuff to happen, whenever we open the doors," he said. "We're going to make sure that everybody who wants to has the chance to speak their truth." Some readers won't even be reading pointedly anti-war poetry. Keller, who is opening for his aunt, said he isn't bringing "war-related poetry," per se, but rather "dreamscapes about disenchantment with the way things are, and that's as close to the vein of anti-war as it gets." Redmond, who initially contacted to Germinara to do a poetry benefit for Darfur, also does not identify herself as a political poet. "What my poetry does is focus on the living and on capturing extraordinary moments in everyone's lives. I might touch on the spiritual, and on how we have to make every day important, because you never know what day might be your last," Redmond said. "The open mic will draw people in with the anti-war theme, and I'm choosing poems that will address that theme peripherally." To those who would say that antiwar speech undermines the troops, Germinara offered that he and others like him are speaking for those troops who disagree with the war, but who cannot speak out against it because of their professional obligation. "In honoring our First Amendment rights, we're speaking for those who can't speak for themselves, like those who are in the service right now and disagree with the war but who cant speak from the heart," he said. PEACE MARCH When: Saturday, March 17, 11 a.m. - noon Where: Starting at the Civil War monument POETSAGAINSTWAR I OPEN MIC AND FEATURED POET When: Sunday, March 18, 2-4 p.m. Where: UMass Boston Field Station, 180 Polpis Road Cost: Free; NPS organizers "pass the hat" before the featured poet. For more information, please call (774) 836-5035. |
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