[stylist] Poem - "Hiroshima" - (sonnet)

[William L Houts]

HI Shawn,

I read "War and Peace" several years ago, and prefer it to "Crime and 
Punishment".  Doestevsky is subtle and psychological, it seems to me, 
while Tolstoy is romantic and grand.  My favorite part in the novel is 
when someone, maybe Peter, is talking about Napoleon, and how he treats 
warfare.  Napoleon, he remarks, invites enemy officers into his tent and 
drinks with them.  The next day,  of course, they return to the field 
and fight.  Peter essentially says that this is bullshit;  that war is 
about butchery and Napoleon's trying to make it seem like some noble 
banquet. Compared to that sort of sweeping understanding of the human 
condition, Doestevsky just gets on  my nerves, ha.


--Bill







On 6/17/2014 7:32 AM, Jacobson, Shawn D wrote:
> Bill
>
> I happened to like the poem it makes you think.
>
> Probably can't review such a poem without pondering the politics (which were complex).  I suspect that the Chinese (another people with an ancient mind) would have a different take on Japan (having endured occupation).  I don't think its easy (or maybe even possible) to sort the good guys out from the villains in the aftermath of war.  War leaves us all victims and all villains.  And then, the victors write the history (so who can ever get an objective picture of such things)?
>
> I'm currently reading "War and Peace" and the whole complex issue of war is handled well there.  I think the "war" part of the book is better than the "peace" part; but that's just probably my taste in such things.
>
> Anyway, thanks for sharing.
>
> Shawn
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of William L Houts via stylist
> Sent: Monday, June 09, 2014 11:17 AM
> To: Writer's Division Mailing List
> Subject: [stylist] Poem - "Hiroshima" - (sonnet)
>
>
> HI Gang,
>
> Here's a sonnet; one of the few I've written worthy of the name, and it shouldn't be a headache to read, as far as I can tell. Comments welcome, as always.
>
> --Bill
>
> ---
>
> No enemies were bombed, no tanks or planes:
>
> just people walking dogs or bringing home
>
> their fish and rice from market stalls while chains
>
> of splitting atoms high above become
>
> a lightning hellish holocaust which rains
>
> a nightmare poison down, a billion wraths.
>
> Today, the children fold their paper cranes
>
> and pray to save the world from psychopaths.
>
> But that's a country with an ancient mind,
>
> where history is taught and facts retained.
>
> America, I fear, is not that kind
>
> Our virgin state, when lost, is e'er regained.
>
> To learn and leave the past?We're not inclined:
>
> our nation's got a faint, forgetful mind.
>
>
>
>
> copyright William L. Houts 2014
> United States of America
> All Rights Reserved
>
>
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