Poets Against War continues the tradition of socially engaged poetry by creating venues for poetry as a voice against war, tyranny and oppression.
Philip Dacey
The Neighbors
"Ask yourself who you would prefer as a neighbor--Saddam Hussein or George Bush." Mary Jane Laub, Christian Science Monitor (Feb. 25, 1991)
I walk out my front door to enjoy the summer evening, the silk hand of a breeze. Immediately eastward, Saddam is watering his lawn. He sees me and waves absentmindedly, absorbed in the sound of the drops slapping grass. On the west side, George reclines in a lounge chair, a newspaper folded on his lap as he looks at nothing in particular, a car passing, a bird hopping at a distance.
They're good neighbors. It's true I worried when they moved in, one right after the other. I had heard stories. And there I was between them. But I have seen them pass each other on the street with an acknowledging nod and even sometimes chat for a while before they part with smiles and touches on the arm, the back. From time to time I borrow things, too, a ladder from Saddam, a drill from George. As I said, they're good neighbors.
Only occasionally a small hand pushes up from the ground their lots enclose, breaking the level green, the fingers uncurling toward the light and moving with an appearance of great expressiveness, and then only briefly before a small engine starts up and low blades whirr quietly, restoring the uninterrupted and peaceful expanse of the neighborhood we take such pride and pleasure in on summer evenings like this one.
