image: An Iraqi looks at bodies as he tries to identify them in the grounds of the morgue at the Yarmuk hospital in Baghdad 14 June 2005. Baghdad’s Yarmuk hospital has taken in the bodies of 23 Iraqis and one Nepalese killed in two western Iraqi attacks, the director of its morgue said.(AFP/Ahmad Al-Rubaye)
Cross-posted at DailyKos, Booman Tribune, and European Tribune.
image and poem below the fold
The Snow Man
by Wallace Stevens
One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;
And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter
Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,
Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place
For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.
– – –
support the Iraqi people
support the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC)
support CARE
support the victims of torture
support the fallen
support the troops
support the troops and the Iraqi people
read `This is what John Kerry did today,’ the diary by lawnorder that prompted this series
read Riverbend’s blog – `Bagdhad Burning’
read Dahr Jamail’s Iraq Dispatches
read Today in Iraq
witness every day
He writes like a painter.
Why did you chose this particular poem today?
Why this poem? Hard for me to say – I guess I like it because it’s straightforward and enigmatic at the same time, for one thing.
And maybe the image link, in my mind, between ‘winter’ and ‘death.’
It’s a good question – I’m not sure I have a very good answer other than that I just liked it.
Can you imagine the outrage if we were ever forced to indentify our dead in such numbers and in such a manner in this country? Can you imagine the outrage and the tears of the ribbon “magneteers” waving their flags as if they were at a football game if the game was being played on their field and the players were their loved ones? I hate Bushco with such a force I must grind my teeth in my sleep. If ever I only have one special wish granted to me, it would be that George’s God does pass judgement on those who break his commandments! How many times has George killed? Will the field be level on judgement day? Will we all stand together and witness the judgement and feel balance and sanity restored?
Tracy I have beenthking about you for the past two hours as I listened to the Armed Services Committee….
Can’t type much now, I have just been overwhelmed.
Hugs to you.
And thanks, as always, Jerry, for reminding us of what is real.
friends here! I hope that people in Iraq can find something akin to it to survive this…..for those who survive.
I can’t always summon the nerve to look, but I value your diaries. I know that many of us who read and view your diaries are moved by them but the real problem is that the ones who need to view them will not, because of the self-censorship and collusion of the media outlets in this country and because of their own willful ignorance.