Full Description
More than any other contemporary collection, this startling work demands a visceral reaction to the agony and horror of the war in Iraq and war in general. The immediacy of Thou Shalt Not Kill Unless Otherwise Instructed calls to mind Wilfred Owen's words, "Above all, I am not concerned with Poetry. My subject is war." The main theme of war contrasts with a variety of unconventional observations on the concerns and vicissitudes of everyday life.
Contents
I. The Twin Towers; The Twin Towers; * Nightmares; * The Capacious Tent; * It's Hard; * The President Delivers His Second Inaugural Address, January 20, 2005; * The Children of the World Address the President; * The President Does Not Respond; * Elegy for American Soldiers Killed in Iraq; * Eight Days in Falluja; * Proof of Torture; * Proud to Be American; * Iraqi Prayer; * Tsunami; * I Saw This; II. The War Crimes Trial of George W. Bush; Who's Winning?; * The President Recognizes Three Public Servants; * The Indictment of Saddam Hussein; * The War Crimes Trial of George W. Bush; * Support Our Troops; III. Never Again; His Heart Was Heavy; * Heartbreak House; * The Condemned Protests the Bright and Shining Future; * War; * The General; * The Unnecessary War; * The Mobilization Orders; * Lord Acton Forgets; * On Evil; * Never Again. Never Again. Never Again; * Two Conversations; * Thou Shalt Not Kill; IV. The New Traffic Rules; All the Pleasures; * On the Fate of Poems; * On Death; * The Self; * Poetry; * The Right Word; * Go to the Dogs; * The Life of a Snowflake; * Survival Manual; * Weather Report to Walt Whitman; * The New Traffic Rules; V. Earlier Drafts; Earlier Drafts; * Intelligent Design; * Song of Those Who Couldn't Decide; * Georgie Porgie; * Ring Around a Rosey; * Too Late to Reconsider; * Posing for Others to See; * God Looked Down; * What If We Had Thought Otherwise?; * If Leaders Had Been Wiser: An Exercise in Virtual History; VI. The Wrong House; The Eyeball; * Piss on It; * The Whoosh of a Perfect Shot; * The Wrong House; * The Helpless Giant; VII. Casualties of War: Stories; The Glorious Life of Lieutenant Case; * Moses' Nail Clipping; * Casualties of War; * References; * Postscript.
