Raising Our Voices: An Anthology of Oregon Poets Against the War

Description

Forward by Judith Barrington and Ursula K. Le Guin. This anthology contains anti-war poetry from many of Oregon's top poets. Raising Our Voices: An Anthology of Oregon Poets Against the War was named one of 150 outstanding Oregon Poetry books by Poetry Northwest and the Oregon State Library on the occasion of Oregon's sesquicentennial anniversary. The poems are massing at the border, arriving daily from the hills, from valley towns and desert hideaways, from mountains, plains and beaches, from all the urban and suburban places, from cafes, malls, park benches, public libraries and rv camps. So begins Sara Halprin s poem A Call to Poems, and so began Raising Our Voices: An Anthology of Oregon Poets Against the War. Since our first call to poets in March (2003), 135 poets from every part of the state have enthusiastically responded. Oregon Poets Against the War was inspired by the website, Poets Against the War, established by Sam Hamill in response to Laura Bush s invitation to attend a poetry symposium. Laura Bush s subsequent cancellation of the symposium infused new life into the powerful voice of poets across the country. By the scheduled time of the symposium, more than 13,000 poems were submitted to the website. Hundreds of these poems were sent from Oregon and they unmistakably declare that we are not going to be silenced, that the province of poetry is not a quiet corner in some academic turret. Poets don't descend from the clouds; they rise from the streets like the stones of Paris. Although a small number of these poems are now somewhat dated, the vast majority are as fresh and relevant as the day they were penned. Among the poets in this volume are Judith Arcana, David Axelrod, Judith Barrington, Margaret Chula, Shelley Davidow, Carolyn Dunn, Lynnell Edwards, Barbara LaMorticella, Dorianne Laux, Ursula K. Le Guin, Robert Hill Long, Carter McKenzie, Carolyn Mills, Carlos Reyes, Ralph Salisbury, Steven Shinn, Ingrid Wendt, and many others.