Patrick Mc Manus wrote:
> Knocked out by this
> Patrick old P
>
Similarly so. I love the almost log-book tone, nothing in it either of
blame or guilt, or too much self-congratulation. There are no victims
on the ground in this abstract. Only in the final two lines do I read
the terrible loneliness of the flight crew and need for comfort.
Alcohol and God are as one.
I worked with a man 21 years ago who'd been a bombardier on a B52 over
Cambodia and Vietnam. He seemed very matter-of-fact about his job. You
got to the target area, dropped the payload from a dehumanizing height,
and got the hell out. All he and the crew saw were the bright flower
patterns of exploding bombs. It did not pay, he said, to think of what
they signified.
ken
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Poetryetc provides a venue for a dialogue relating to poetry and
> poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Halvard Johnson
> Sent: 07 August 2006 19:28
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: "New Dawn" an abstract
>
> 1 EXPLOSION: SEQUENCE AND SIMULTANEITY Greenwich Time 11:16 P.M.
> August 5 1945... Hiroshima Time 6:16 P.M. " "... 2 GOODBYE TO TINIAN
> Now that all the"unauthorized items"are cleared from the bomber/...
> Colonel Tibbets, commander/... Addresses the crew, "just don't/Screw
> it up..." 3 TAKEOFF: TINIAN ISLAND ...Position taken... 4 MYSTIC
> NAME ...some name it"The Beast," and some... "Little Boy." 5 WHEN ...
> 6:30 A.M. Japanese Time, last lap to target... 6 IWO JIMA ...Advice
> bombing primary-i.e./Hiroshima... 7 SELF AND NON-SELF... /8 DAWN... 9
> THE APPROACH Speed 200 miles per hour... /On time. Color/Of the world
> changes. /...like a dream. 10 WHAT THAT IS The apocalyptic blaze...
> Bursts... Hiroshima Time:8:16 A.M., August 6, 1945. 12 MANIC
> ATMOSPHERE... /13 TRIUMPHAL BEAUTY... 14 HOME "We made it!"... The
> mutual salute. At last... 15 SLEEP Some men, no doubt, will, before
> sleep, consider/One thought: I am alone. But some, /in the mercy of
> God, or booze, do not Long stare at the dark ceiling.
>
> --Robert Penn Warren
>
> [Note: The above is an abstract of a poem called "New Dawn,"
> first published in the New Yorker issue dated Nov. 14, 1983]
>
> Hal
>
> Serving the tristate area.
>
> Halvard Johnson
> ================
> [log in to unmask]
> [log in to unmask]
> http://home.earthlink.net/~halvard
> http://entropyandme.blogspot.com
> http://imageswithoutwords.blogspot.com
> http://www.hamiltonstone.org
>
>
--
--------------------
Ken Wolman kenwolman.com rainermaria.typepad.com
"Let us stifle under the mud at the pond's edge
and affirm that it is fitting
and delicious to lose everything."--Donald Hall, "Affirmation"
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