Sandino's Grave and Other Poems

Several years ago, I contacted a poet who was known to advise writers about publication possibilities for their work. With considerable hope, I sent her 25 of my poems. When she came to consult with me a week later, she brought a sheet of paper on which were listed, under 3 headings-"too personal," "too political," and "Yes"-the results of decades of my labor. I was astonished to learn that the list marked "too political" contained many of what I considered my best poems. "Hell," I...
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Several years ago, I contacted a poet who was known to advise writers about publication possibilities for their work. With considerable hope, I sent her 25 of my poems. When she came to consult with me a week later, she brought a sheet of paper on which were listed, under 3 headings-"too personal," "too political," and "Yes"-the results of decades of my labor. I was astonished to learn that the list marked "too political" contained many of what I considered my best poems. "Hell," I replied, "almost all of my poems are either political or personal." Even a totally innocuous poem such as "The Eyes of the Children of Solentiname" was destined to mold in the slush pile because I had included a slightly negative reference to Disneyland. Adrienne Rich defined a patriot as someone who "wrestles for the soul of her country." For decades I have followed Rich's injunction, and several years agowrote a book entitled Struggling for the Soul of Our County. In that volume I wrote about the American Empire and castigated our political leaders for decades of invasions and occupations south of the Rio Grande, for C.I.A.-orchestrated coupsfrom Guatemala to Chile and, much farther from home, from Indonesia to the Central African Republic, with lives lost, according to one former C.I.A. officer, numbering in the "gross millions." Hence readers will find here poems like "New World Order," angry poems, bitter in tone, as well as a satirical poem such as "Epitaph for Ronald Reagan." I even took a shot, in "Pledge of Allegiance," at Humpty Trumpty. But they will also encounter poems that are all sweetness and light such as the sonnet I composed in 1958 after my first date with Ann Hutt, who became my wife. As I approach my eighty-ninth birthday, I feel totally blessed to have had a career writing and teaching poetry. With luck I may live to write a few more poems.