Kim Jensen's "Song of Qana"
Here's a poem from Kim Jensen's stark new book, Bread Alone.Song of QanaThirteen narrow streetsThirteen lines of whitesheets. Thirteen children of dustin the dust.********Just then, the jets.Thirteen housesof stone

Remembering the Jesuit Martyrs
I'm thinking of the assassinated Jesuits in El Salvador, twenty years later, and all the deaths of people whose names we do not know, and how the circuitous routes of imperial practice wind from here to there, and back again.Remembering the Jesuit Martyrsby John Dear SJ on Nov. 10, 2009 On the Road to Peace Twenty years ago, on November 16, 1989, I was studying theology at the Jesuit community in Berkeley, Calif., when my friend Steve Kelly knocked on the door and asked if I had heard the news. I hadn’t. He broke down telling me of the brutal deaths early that morning of six Jesuit priests at the University of Central America, the Jesuit university in S

Celestial Poets vs. Prophetic Poets: Pablo Neruda by way of John Dear
Last month, in the mix of reading hundreds of Neruda poems from Ilan Stavans' edition called THE POETRY OF PABLO NERUDA, I came across this poem, a blistering critique of the poetry of quietism (as opposed to quietude). Neruda is at his most vituperative and prophetic in various moments in CANTO GENERAL, including this one, when he attacks the poets who "take flight" when "confronted with the reign of anguish" of the imperial oppression. While I love certain aspects of "celestial poetry," I struggle with how it seems to dodge its own protection and privilege in a world of violence. Even a poet like Wallace Stevens--arguably one of the great celestial poets--still found it ess

Cost of Empire: $130 billion for occupying Iraq and Aghanistan (priceless!)
Thanks to Tim Musser for this commentary by Art Laffin, a Catholic Worker, on the recent military spending bill that President Obama passed into law. 680 billion military budget an affront to God, the poorNov. 12, 2009 By Art LaffinPresident Obama signed into law Oct. 28 the $680 billion 2010 National Defense Authorization Act, the largest military spending bill of its kind. The bill includes $130 billion in funding for the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan and only modifies the military commissions system at Guantánamo Bay, rather than abolish it.The bill included several military spending projects Obama had previously opposed, incl

Najla Said, The Daughter of Edward Said, on Going to Palestine