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| St. Louis with scepter and crown of thorns |
Somehow I think of Anthony Hecht's powerful "More Light! More Light!" with the death of Latimer (or Ridley, or someone like them) juxtaposed to the two Jews and the Pole and the lawless soldier with his Lüger at the edge of a German wood. Perhaps today Anthony Hecht would have told some two-stranded story in bullets and hammers, and Goethe's dying words would still be a proper title.
Mine is not a blog meant for politics, nor do I feel that writers have more rights to speak than any others. Certainly I do not feel than I have more right to speak about the events of these days than anyone on the face of the planet. All I say is that tonight I cannot get that poem out of my head. And I will think on that simple, difficult thing: "Let us love one another."
There is an argument that everything is political -- not in the sense of Republican or Democrat or any other faction but in the sense of human nature and the inevitable exercise of or submission to power. So, why should you be reluctant to comment upon politics within that definition. Indeed, writers have a responsibility to do so.
ReplyDeleteI am profoundly allergic to self-righteousness, and I dislike the sort of self-advertisement that comes so often with writers' pronouncements. That said, there are more subtle ways to clarify what you think. As above.
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