1. Poetry
and Nonkilling
(a) How to Talk to
Nature
DEAR NATURE,
When
do we treat you with respect?
When
appropriate Nature conservation policies we select?
When
drilling the ocean floor, how responsibly do we care?
When
considering how in that process marine fauna/flora will fare?
When
your natural phenomena do we understand?
When
the impact of its forces we learn to withstand?
When
with Climate Change will we deal effectively?
When
pollution prevention/control legislation we´ll implement globally?
To
YOU, NATURE when will all Humanity learn appropriately to refer?
When
to YOU, full ECOlinguistic recognition Humanity will confer
Dear
NATURE, when will you provide Humanity with Earth-dignifying lights?
When
all global citizens share the effort of implementing NATURE´s
RIGHTS
by Francisco Gomes de
Matos, a peace linguist, co-founder of ABA Global Education, Recife,
Brazil.
(b) The Big
Lies
The
big lies
don’t
really have
short
legs.
Their
legs
only
appear to be short
because
their arms
are
so long.
The
arms
of
the big lies
stretch
so far
of
truth,
they
can make legs
or
skeletons.
The Big Lies (DIE GROßEN LÜGEN) by
Austrian poet Erich Fried(Translation Germain
Droogenbroodt – Stanley Barkan), ITHACA 565
(c) A Conspiracy of
Decency
We
will conspire to keep this blue dot floating and alive,
to
keep the soldiers from gunning down the children;
to
make the water clean and clear and plentiful,
to
put food on everybody’s table and hope in their hearts.
We
will conspire to find new ways to say people matter.
This
conspiracy will be bold.
Everyone
will dance at wholly inappropriate times.
They
will burst out singing non-patriotic songs.
And
the not-so-secret password will be Peace.
By David
Krieger from his recent collection, IN THE SHADOW OF
THE BOMB: POEMS OF SURVIVAL. (Read
a review of this collection).
Also
published in Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and Global Poetry
websites.