Poetry Interlude

I've previously admitted to being a fan of poetry, and have shared a number of poems with you in this space. Here's another great one I ran across a short while ago ...

Questionnaire

by Wendell Berry

How much poison are you willing

to eat for the success of the free

market and global trade? Please

name your preferred poisons.

For the sake of goodness, how much

evil are you willing to do?

Fill in the following blanks

with the names of your favorite

evils and acts of hatred.

What sacrifices are you prepared

to make for culture and civilization?

Please list the monuments, shrines,

and works of art you would

most willingly destroy

In the name of patriotism and

the flag, how much of our beloved

land are you willing to desecrate?

List in the following spaces

the mountains, rivers, towns, farms

you could most readily do without.

State briefly the ideas, ideals, or hopes,

the energy sources, the kinds of security;

for which you would kill a child.

Name, please, the children whom

you would be willing to kill.

The best poetry, like the best essays, derive their power from the thinking they force you to do. I think this one does a lot of forcing.

Have a good day. Think about how you'd answer the questionnaire.

More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo