I'd delete the message w/o hesitation.

Hal

On Oct 13, 2005, at 6:57 PM, Stephen Vincent wrote:

> I received the following query from a pretty important international
> magazine today, and am wanting help in making a reasonable response:
>
> Mr. Vincent, as a poet, we would like to know your view on how  
> poems may be
> used in response to seeming apocalyptic world conditions. As you  
> have no
> doubt noticed the following:
> 1. Last spring's Asian Tsunami and its devastation of coastal  
> communities
> from Thailand to Sri Lanka.
> 2. The break-up of the Artic ice-cap - as a result of Global  
> Warming - and
> the threat of enveloping ocean levels on European and eastern coastal
> American cities.
> 3. The Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the massive destruction of  
> the Gulf
> Coast, including the almost disappearance of  City of New Orleans.
> 4. The devastating killer earthquake in Pakistan and Kashmir.
> 5. The potential deadly human and global plague from avian virus'  
> now just
> arriving in foul from Southeast Asia in Romania and Turkey, and the  
> virus'
> looming,  arrival in Europe and the Americas.
>
> The letter goes to further alert me that the journal has heard from  
> sources
> within the Bush Administration. Currently, apparently, Administration
> officials - so terrified of these various natural signs - has a secret
> internal group that is now developing plans to wage an all out  
> Attack on
> Nature. Clear-Cutting strategies are being mounted to take on every  
> major
> global forest. Concrete companies will be enlisted to fill wetlands  
> wherever
> they may be found. Bombs are being prepared to be dropped into the  
> upper
> atmosphere to alter the direction of hurricanes. Mountain tops will be
> leveled and the plateaus will licensed to mining companies. And  
> these are
> just a few examples. The intention is to bring Nature to its knees  
> before
> devastation can be released by its evil generating force.
>
> As a poet, the letter goes on to say, you and your comrade poets will
> undoubtedly have some a response to the Administration's developing  
> plans.
> But - beyond what the President and inner-circle may pray to  
> achieve - as a
> poet what is your response - individually and collectively - to the  
> apparent
> apocalyptic constellation of forces that are now seeming to pour  
> their wrath
> (collective or otherwise) on to the Globe?? Legendarily poets are  
> associated
> with casting powerful spells - but even those devices seem a little  
> weak in
> proportion to current events. What may you possibly write or do?
>
> Admittedly this was a strange letter, even if a timely one, to  
> receive from
> anybody. It even went on to say that there were some in the Bush
> Administration who were actually exciting about seeing the Globe -  
> as we
> know it - come to what they consider a Rapturous Finale. "But there  
> are
> always a few very sick ones in any Administration," they added
>
> I will appreciate anybody's positive feedback here. I - as I am  
> sure you
> would - want to come up with a workable response, one that would,  
> at least,
> put the Globe back on some friendlier terms than recent.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Stephen Vincent
>

Hal        "Time is what keeps us waiting."

Halvard Johnson
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