a cup of grounds in my old enameled pot,
then three cups of water and a fire,
and when it's hot, boiling into froth,
a half cup of cold water
to bring the grounds to the bottom.
It was strong and bitter and good
as I squatted on the riverbank,
under the great redwoods, all those years ago.
Some days, it was nearly all I got.
I was happy with my dog,
and cases of books in my funky truck.
But when I think of that posture now,
I can't help but think
of Palestinians huddled in their ruins,
the Afghan shepherd with his bleating goats,
the widow weeping, sending off her sons,
the Tibetan monk who can't go home.
There are fewer names for coffee
than for love. Squatting, they drink,
thinking, waiting for whatever comes.
"Sheepherder Coffee" — Sam Hamill
http://www.poetsagainstthewar.
Web thing, 71 or so entries in full, with a dash of color:
http://www.recollectionbooks.
Text excerpts,
APRIL 6
ERICH MÜHSAM
German anarchist poet, murdered by the Nazis.
USA PHONE IN SICK DAY.
Resist corporate rule by phoning in sick.
During one World Phone In Sick Day, over 2,000 British
Airways employees phoned in sick to protest airline policies, etc.
Inspired by the "consumer terrorists" — known as Decadent
Action.
______________________________
1781 -- Peru: Túpac Amaru captured after being
denounced by a traitor.
Of dust & pain — these are the ways of Peru. Túpac Amaru
is brought into Cuzco on the back of mule, covered with chains
that drag on the pavement. The traitor does not look for a
rope to hang himself, but instead receives his reward of
2,000 pesos & a title of "nobility".
1812 -- Russia: Anarchist sympathizer Alexander Herzen lives.
Strongly influenced by Proudhon, he helped finance his close
friend Bakunin's escape from Siberia.
http://recollectionbooks.com/
http://recollectionbooks.com/
1866 -- US: Muckraker Lincoln Steffens lives, Frisco,
California. 1998 Daily Bleed Saint.
1878 -- Germany: Erich Mühsam, poet & anarchist, lives.
Murdered by the Nazis during the night of July 9/10, 1934
(Orianenburg Concentration Camp).
http://recollectionbooks.com/
1888 -- Dan Andersson lives (1888-1920). Musician/writer,
of working class background, who became one of the most
popular Swedish poets.
1895 -- After acquittal of the Marquis of Queensberry for
libel, Oscar Wilde is arrested. During the trial Wilde
denies writing "The Priest & the Acolyte."
"Was that story immoral?" asked the court.
"It was much worse than immoral," Wilde replied.
"It was badly written."
1917 -- US enters WWI, declares war on Germany.
Beloved & Respected Comrade Liberal Woodrow Wilson,
elected on an anti- war platform, does an about face.
Thousands of Americans are suddenly declared "anti-American."
Thousands of Americans are now considered "traitors" for
opposing a war that will leave 10 million dead.
Thousands are now jailed, harassed, tarred & feathered,
lynched, forced to get on their knees & kiss the American
flag, castrated or killed, etc, by such outstanding icons of
"patriotic" virtue as the American Legion — basically for
maintaining the original anti-war position which got Wilson
elected President.
In the name of "freedom" the government, police, & vigilantes
across the nation destroy printing presses, labor halls & offices,
burn books & papers...
This, of course, is the war that Ended All Wars.
1917 -- Leonora Carrington lives, in Clayton Green,
Lancashire, England. Daily Bleed Saint, 2004.
"Reading The Hearing Trumpet liberates
us from the miserable reality of our days."
"I am an old
woman, 'seated'
in Mexico"
http://www.recollectionbooks.
1928 -- Bigoted Jason Compson begins his day.
(Faulkner's The Sound & the Fury )
"Once a bitch always a bitch, what I say. I says you're
lucky if her playing out of school is all that worries you. I
says she ought to be down there in that kitchen right now,
instead of up there in her room, gobbing paint on her face &
waiting for six niggers that can't even stand up out of a chair
unless they've got a panful of bread & meat to balance them, to
fix breakfast for her."
1931 - First of the "Scottsboro Boys" trials begins in
Alabama.
The great crowd assembled before the courthouse,
surrounded by state troopers, staged a demonstration
of approval with the band playing,
"There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight".
http://recollectionbooks.com/
1959 -- France:
'The cinema, too, must be destroyed....'
Shooting begins for Guy Debord's film
"On the Passage of a Few Persons through
a Rather Brief Period of Time."
'The point is to understand what has been done &
all that remains to be done, not to add more ruins to
the old world of spectacles & memories...'
1963 - Birmingham civil rights demonstrations begins on
a small scale.... At first there were a few sit-ins at lunch
counters & a few arrests....
Well, I said, "There must be some man around,
There can't be only you dogs in town."
They said, "Sure, we have Old Bull Connor,
There he goes, walkin' yonder,
Throwin' some raw meat to the Mayor,
Feedin' bones to the City Council!"
— Phil Ochs, "Talking Birmingham Jam" (1963)
1980 - France: Raiders destroy one computer center & two
others two days later. The actions are claimed by Action
Directe. The Committee for the Liquidation &
Misappropriation of Computers states:
"Computers are the favored instruments of the powerful.
They are used to clarify, control & repress. We do not
want to be shut up in the ghettos of programs &
organizational patterns."
1985 - Australia: Satellite dish daubed with human blood,
Watsonian Army Base, Melbourne.
1996 - US: 11 arrested at main post office near Capitol
Hill, Washington, D.C., for attempting to mail needed
medical supplies to Iraq in defiance of U.S.-led embargo.
In Iraq, largely due to the embargo, as many
people die each month as were killed in the
Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade
Center in NY.
2003 -- Iraq: That was then, this is now.
2007 -- Iraq: That was then, this is now.
2008 -- Iraq: That was then, this is now.
2009 -- Iraq: That was then, this is now.
_________________
"Knowing can be a limiting thing."
— Richard Hugo, "Writing Off the Subject"
_________________
— Auntie-Off-Subject 2011 more or less
@nti-copyright 1997. Information should be free. Fuk
intellectual property. Plagiarists of the world unite! All
content displayed is for "entertainment purposes" only.
Warning! Children! Beware! A single dose of the Daily
Bleed could leave you more knowledgeable than all the
adults you know, particularly parents & teachers.
Several dosages (highly recommended) may result in a
severe way-serious attitude.
No comments:
Post a Comment