Marvin Bell on the Poetry of War

Marvin Bell has written many poems about war. One of his first published poems, in Poetry in 1965 and the title poem in his 1966 collection, is called “Things We Dreamt We Died For.” His most recent collection of poems takes its name from another poem pertaining to war: “Mars Being Red” (Copper Canyon Press, 2007). This week there’s an interesting interview with him in the Des Moines Register on just this topic:

“Former poet laureate Marvin Bell wages war of words on the ravages of battle,” by Mike Kilen
“Marvin Bell says poetry finds words for what it feels like in wartime.... ‘Poets write about war because poetry honors precision. It's Confucian. Purify the language and one will see through the lies of the politicos who send other people's children into battle.’...”

Our related anthologies:
Poems of War: A collection of classic war poems
Poems for Peace