The Living Need a Poem
The Cold War is over
why aren't we having fun
I have destroyed my internal Timex
kicked an innocent dog
stiffed four ratty beggars
my team has triumphed over
the incarnation of wickedness
I etch acrid sarcasm
on a child's mind
can I pull a poem from shrapnel
fashion words of beauty
from shrill shrieks of falling bombs
submerge the laments of those
with investments
in times of need
the living need a poem
-Saul Landau
Used by permission.
From My Dad Was Not Hamlet (Inst. for Policy Studies 1993)
Saul Landau
is an internationally known scholar, author, commentator, and
filmmaker on foreign and domestic policy issues. He has been a fellow
at IPS since 1972 and at the Transnational Institute since 1974. He has
written 13 books, thousands of newspaper and magazine articles and
reviews, and made more than 40 films and TV programs on social,
political, economic and historical issues.
Among
his numerous accolades, Saul received the George Polk Award for
Investigative Reporting and an Emmy for his 1980 film, "Paul Jacobs and
the Nuclear Gang" (with Jack Willis), as well as the Letelier-Moffitt
Award for his human rights work. He won a Golden Apple award for "The
Sixth Sun: Mayan Uprising in Chiapas" as well as first prizes in many
festivals with films about Fidel Castro, Salvador Allende and
Subcomandante Marcos. He is Professor Emeritus at Cal Poly Pomona
University.
Saul's newest film is "Will the Real Terrorist Please Standup" (2011). It is now available on DVD.
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