Two Poems from America’s Vietnam Era

By Shirley Skufca Hickman


Withdrawing

He hands me a form:

Permission to withdraw from English 1-A.

His hands shake but he jokes.
“I got caught in the draft.”

Interview: Poet Michael H. Brownstein

Who are you & what do you think you’re doing?

Interviewed by Moristotle

Poet Michael H. Brownstein came to my attention by way of an email a little over three months ago: “Bob Boldt told me about your site…How can I submit poetry?” I told him, he submitted, I invited him to join the staff, he accepted, and less than two weeks later his first submission appeared here, in his column, “All Over the Place,” followed by another poem every Sunday since.

You say you want a revolution?

Notes on the Women’s March on Denver

By Chuck Smythe

Fifty years ago, there was Nixon. The people took to the streets. Watching, I decided that was accomplishing nothing, so I didn’t participate. Years later, I learned that protests had in fact eventually made it impossible to continue Vietnam, and furthermore fueled the paranoia with which Nixon eventually destroyed himself. I resolved that I would show up next time. The time has come, and as a first baby step I attended the Women’s March on Denver a week ago yesterday.

Growing Up in the Two Americas

Another source of estrangement

By Rolf Dumke

Land vs. cities, as Tim Wallace’s November 16 NY Times article “The Two Americas of 2016^*” affirms, is an important division of American culture and politics, which have many sources for division.

Ask Wednesday: Stone Arnold on coming across us

Looking to hang out

By Morris Dean

Today's interview was conducted by email chat, one question and answer at a time. [Our questions are in italics.]

Mr. Arnold—
    Call me Stone.

Ask Wednesday: Morissa Knudsen on phototrotting in Asia

Morissa Knudsen visited Vietnam and Cambodia for seventeen days in October as part of a “phototrotting tour” organized by humanitarian photojournalist Joanna Herr, whose website informs us that she “has been traveling the globe experiencing and photographing people and places for a long time. Her fascination with exotic cultures and indigenous people, her curiosity about their history and her sense of adventure has led her to embark on numerous sojourns and safaris.” On this one, Morissa (and her sister Claire Donahue and neice Luisa Gildea) accompanied Joanna. [Our questions are in italics.]

There's buff and there's buff

Our "president" may not be so buff as the shirtless Vladimir Putin, but has Putin ever said anything so brave as what Bush said yesterday (to those friendly VFW folks), that we shouldn't have gotten out of Vietnam until we'd completed the job (the way he wants us to do in Iraq)? Surely that's its own kind of buff. If Bush had been in charge in 1970 (and Rove had somehow been able to engineer his remaining in charge):

• We might still be in Vietnam trying to "get the job done."
• There'd have been several times the number (58,000) of United States lives lost.
• There'd have been several times the number (350,000) of United States casualties.
• There'd have been several times the number (between one and two million) Vietnamese deaths.
• I'd probably be in jail by now (with a huge number of other Americans) for criticizing and ridiculing the simply ridiculous Bush in public.

Now, that's buff!