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Michael Simms: The Garden and the Drone
We come to the garden because it is beautiful.
Arborvitae, hydrangea, anemone—
Even the names are beautiful.
.
The men who call themselves our leaders
Seem far away. We feel free to be kind,
To walk from here down the street,
.
Greeting our neighbors, stopping to give
A dollar to a ragged man sitting on the sidewalk.
Beauty begs us to be kind.
.
Can we believe in kindness the way we believe in rain?
Can we practice kindness until it becomes a habit,
A custom, a ritual of small acts?
.
If we step over the homeless man
On the sidewalk, then we can easily ignore
The child in Syria blown apart by our taxes
.
And our drone hovering over the garden
Where the wedding party waits
For the bride. A missile is launched
.
And everyone dies.
But such cruelty seems far away.
Here in the garden where virtue is easy
.
We avoid the cold calculus of blame:
Arborvitae, hydrangea, anemone
Beneath the wide August sky.
Note: According to an article by Tom Engelhardt published by The Nation, U.S. airstrikes have wiped out a total of eight wedding parties in Iraq, Yemen, and Afghanistan since 2001.
This poem was commissioned by City of Asylum Pittsburgh to be read at the Alphabet City Garden on August 4, 2018 and is included in American Ash by Michael Simms, copyright 2020, published by Ragged Sky Press.
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Anemone
Vox Populi 
Just found this on someone else’s post. I thought I was getting all the emails fro Vox Populi, but it still I don’t get all of them?
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Remind me to stop writing comments from my phone.
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And maybe I hadn’t discovered Vox Populi yet in 2018?
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Quite moving, Michael. Thank you.
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Thank you, Sarah!
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“The child in Syria blown apart by our taxes.” Poignant and horrifying. Unless we raise our voices, we are all complicit. Reminds me of a Gloria Steinem quote: “You cannot harden your heart selectively.” Thanks for including the notes at the end.
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Thanks, Pat!
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Very powerful poem, Mike. Wish you could read it before Congress.
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Thanks, Andrea. Perhaps after the midterm elections, the next congress will be more enlightened. We can hope.
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Thank you, Michael! Great and necessary and heartbreaking poem. Really appreciate all you do.
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Thank you so much, Naomi. Your poetry has been a great inspiration to me.
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Thank you for this poem, Michael. Charles
Sent from my iPad
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Thank you, Charles!
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Earlier I clicked a LIke, but this poem seems to be staying with me. Prompting me to come back and say more. Like the other posting of the morning, it reminds me that how we choose to act each day matters. That compassion matters – both to others and to me. Because of our oneness. Yesterday I started reading ‘The Book of Joy’ (the Dalai Lama + Desmond Tutu). And now this morning, this poem and the Portrait. Not a coincidence. All of a piece.
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Thank you!
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Yes—in fact, you know I think that Michael has been my publisher at Autumn House Press, and published a few of our translations. He’s a good friend.
This article appeared in our local paper yesterday:
https://apnews.com/d6995f7b273e4ef8bd4a3bf7e7ad9f7a/A-last-showdown-looms-over-Syrian-opposition-stronghold
>
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