PRESS RELEASE
March 13, 2007

Beneath the words of poet Jane Kenyon, “I believe in the miracle of art,” nineteen poets and their supporters, including several Veterans for Peace, gathered at Senator Sununu’s office for two hours on March 13th. Kenyon’s words were observed on a McDowell Colony poster hanging in the Senator’s office. The poets had come to share poems of war and peace in protest of US war policy, and to honor Iraqi poets who gathered this week to read poems amidst the blood and ash of their recently bombed ancient literary center in Baghdad. Many read from the anthology, The Other Side of Sorrow, Poets Speak Out about Conflict , War and Peace, published last year by the Poetry Society of New Hampshire. Pat Frisella, Julia Older, LR Berger, and Rodger Martin were among those reciting poems, including “Bummer” by Michael Casey, a Viet Nam veteran whose first book, Obscenities, was in the 1972 Yale Younger Poet Series, edited by Stanley Kunitz, and went on to sell 100,000 copies in paperback. The group donated copies of the anthology to Senator Sununu and to each of his staff. In addition to the poetry, the group read a letter they would present to the Senator and an article about the Iraqi poets in Baghdad, to whom they dedicated their efforts. The letter expressed the poets’ aggrievement over the war and their hope that the Senator would work to put an end to the occupation of Iraq by voting nay on further war supplements, by bringing the troops home, and by engaging in diplomacy with Syria and Iran. In the article, Iraqi poets mourned the loss through bombing of the cultural heart of their city. A simultaneous reading was held in the Senator’s seacoast office.

The text of a letter sent from poets to Senator is below:

Dear Senator Sununu,

We come to your office this afternoon as citizens aggrieved by the ongoing war in Iraq. As poets, we gather also to honor those poets in
Baghdad who gathered to read poems amid the blood and ashes of their centuries old literary and arts district that was destroyed by bombs this week. We carry the burden of responsibility as Americans for the carnage of American soldiers and Iraqi citizens, and this burden grows more unbearable each day. We know the cost of this war in human lives, including children’s lives, must way heavily on your heart and conscienc as well. We gather here to urge you to take leadership in ending the war in Iraq and helping to prevent a military confrontation with Iran.

We are also deeply troubled by the deepening social and economic crises both Americans and Iraqis are facing as a result of nearly four years of the Iraq war and occupation. We call on you to use your power in the Senate to bring this immoral and brutal quagmire to an end.

Your recent refusal to vote for debate on the Senate floor about the escalation of U.S. forces in Iraq has left us deeply disappointed. While we understand that you had concerns about the allegedly partisan way the vote was framed, we also know that Iraqis and U.S. soldiers are dying, and that “troop readiness” is a myth because our U.S. forces are strained to the breaking point. President Bush’s plan in Iraq is an unqualified failure. It is your responsibility – your duty – to rise above partisan politics and do the moral thing for the U.S. and or Iraq. You said that you are against the escalation, but your actions have not reflected your words.

If you no longer believe in this war – as over 60% of Americans no longer do - you must stop funding it. We expect you to do the righteous thing when the billion supplemental funding comes up for a vote this spring. We ask you to vote against the supplemental funding for the failed war in Iraq. This war has cost New Hampshire taxpayers nearly billion and the people of the U.S. over 0 billion. The loss of life is staggering: Almost 3,200 U.S. lives, along with 800 independent contractors, and tens of thousands have returned with irreparable injuries. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been killed or wounded. Our moral standing in the world has been dangerously compromised. We must bring our soldiers home and take care of them when they get here, pursue aggressive diplomacy in the region, and renounce military violence. Diplomacy is the great untried weapon.

We now hear troubling news that the Bush Administration has plans drawn up for military strikes on Iran’s nuclear and military facilities. You and your colleagues in Congress cannot allow the President to bomb Iran, and we expect you to take the leadership necessary to prevent this disastrous course of action. To that end, we ask that you sign on to S. Con. Res. 13, legislation that would require the President to have the consent of Congress before engaging in military action against Iran.

We also want you to speak out loudly and with conviction about the need to engage Syria and Iran, not isolate them. We understand that you agreed with this point of the Iraq Study Group report, and hope you have the conviction to take leadership on this front.