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December 19, 2008
“I Didn’t Sleep” by Marvin Bell: Poetry Friday
I thought maybe I could sleep after the war
or catch a nap after the next election. It was
a terrible time in America. Many of us found
ourselves unable to sleep. The war went on.
-excerpt from “I Didn’t Sleep” by Marvin Bell
I fell in love with this poem when I was visiting City Lights a couple weeks ago, where they had a lovely framed and signed broadside of it hanging on the wall, which I might have bought were I a richer person or one who had more faith in her ability to get it back across the country in one piece. You can read the whole poem here or (highly recommended) you can hear Bell himself read it here.
Bell published this poem in 2007, in his collection Mars Being Red, but it is particularly apt for our moment, where, after the election, I keep worrying that as a country we are maybe getting a little too wrapped up in insular concerns and forgetting about the economic and spiritual drain of our wars overseas. When I visited San Francisco, Jeffrey and I had a discussion about how the level of homelessness there was freaking me out. This week, he sent me this article that talks about how drastically homelessness has risen there over the last year and mentions how many of those homeless are returning veterans, which… wow. I can’t feel anything but ashamed when I read that. We, as a country, should know better. As Bell writes, “So I/tried to talk myself to sleep by memorizing/the past, which had been full of sleepiness.” It all reinforces my feeling that our problems as a country are bigger than whether or not the manufacturers of crappy cars get to keep making crappy cars, and, as Bell suggests, there is a never a time for complacency.
Find this week’s Poetry Friday roundup at Author Amok.
Posted by adrienne at December 19, 2008 11:08 AM
Comments
You've found a very good poet there:)But you know-we all do what we can.As a librarian,you are helping folks educate themselves.How important is that?Plenty.As an author you are helping folks educate their kids.You've never been political.Yet,I can assure you everything anyone does is political.You aren't a social worker.The vets need social workers and community organizers.They have their parts to play.Bell did his part writing poems.We are all little lights which taken together form a glorious light.Don't you feel sad you can't heal every wound.You are meant to be you.Your light matters.Each life matters.Believe it:)I've never lied to you.There is a god who watches all...
Posted by: momster at December 19, 2008 03:04 PM
Two of our dear friends who left the military helped furnish an entire apartment building for homeless vets. I was so proud of their efforts. Everything is complicated, as you know. Substance abuse, PTSD, untreated mental illness. It's easy to feel overwhelmed by the size of the problem. But paying attention is the first step and poetry helps us do that.
Posted by: Sara Holmes at December 19, 2008 08:52 PM
So, I really like that poem, but I also really like momster's "we are all little lights which taken together form a glorious light." Rock it, momster.
Posted by: jules at December 19, 2008 09:14 PM
Momster, Thanks, I hope so.
Sara, I never know how to wrap my mind around on how to solve these problems--like Momster says, I'm not a social worker--but I'm glad poetry's there to remind me to think about them and maybe try to do something when I can. Your friends' project sounds amazing.
Jules, Seriously. That Momster's the one who got me started with the poetry back when I was just a wee thing.
Posted by: adrienne at December 20, 2008 10:19 AM