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Young Poets Speak!
The poetry of protest on the Net when you’re 12 YEARS OLD
 More of this Feature
• A collection of classic war poems
 
 Related Articles
• Poems for Peace, our new anthology
• Poetry Can Stop War
• Raising Their Voices: Poets speak out against the war in Iraq, by Victor Infante
• What Would Emily Say?, by Robyn Su Millerz
• Submit your own poem to be considered for our collection of peace poems
 
 Join the Discussions
• The Debt of Our Art: Poets’ Duty
“...thinking about the purpose of poetry in time of war and crisis... who is your audience?”
   --Poetry Guide
 
• Two Lines for Peace
“Here is an idea: Write a two-line poem that will foster peace in the world.”   --Pixordia
 
 Elsewhere on the Web
• Poetsagainstthewar.org (US)
• Poets Against the War (UK)
• Poets4Peace.com at the United Poets Coalition
• Australian Poets for Peace Project
• “Not In Our Name, a statement of conscience against war and repression”
• “After the Fall,” Artists for Peace, Justice and Civil Liberties
• “Convergence,” Canadian poems for peace
 

Say what you want about the Internet eating the Book.... we still love the impulse to writing that the keyboard contains. Read this poetic dialogue between two 12-year-old New Yorkers, and then ask if there might not be a better way to bomb Baghdad: with the poems of Esther Woo and Dylan Jane Rossman.

Bob Holman


waaaaar=eeeeeeek+GWB is an asshole=the end of USA

We are going to die
Say the worried people of America
We are going to die
As kids run around, hollering:
We are going to die
When we run, holler, sob, bleed tears of blood, and lose our minds...
kids yell:
We are going to die
So what happens to all of those who are left behind?
We are going to die
When we die, the ones who are strong are left behind
We are going to die
What happens to them? The ones who believe and hope for the light?
We are going to die
What happens to the people left behind?
We are going to die
Will they die?
We are going to die
Or will they stand up for the people they love?
We are going to die
They will die proud with dignity
We are going to die
Or live on for their loved ones
We will fight for the good

©2003, Esther Woo

Yours is really good. It’s so sad the way we just plunged into this.... Maybe we could write a book of war poems.... That would get them. 12 year olds writing about death, destruction, and the total annihilation of the world as we know it. The slimy bastards. It just makes me so mad....
            Dylan

war

its hand stretches far into the hearts of many
tearing
shattering
breaking.
its cynical edge cuts the throats of all,
and i watch the blood of innocents flow
unchecked
unleashed
unnoticed.
war was always man’s weakness.
it alone destroys the world and civilization we have worked so hard to make.
only to break
take
hate.
we need no fantastical enemies.
we destroy ourselves.
and while we could have changed,
instead we kill to fill the holes of
our barbaric minds.
they are our binds
our lines
our times.

©2003, Dylan Jane Rossman

this is bye, Dylan
            Esther



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