preparing for class (and the hope for peace)

hey look
i don’t wanna create the vision
of false hope
but i wrote you all a letter.
wanna hear it?

[pause for choices to be made and executed]

to you
the students
in my/our classes
that i work to teach —
early childhood education 62,
“the introduction to early childhood education,”
human development 53,
“child development in a multiethnic society,” and
human development 38,
“child development” —

what could i possibly mean about hope?
isn’t War “inevitable”?

and if it is, had i not better
get that through my thick skull,
sooner rather than later?
i wouldn’t want to get
caught short
not being ready for
The War
not ready for the computer graphics
of precisely targeted coordinates
turning bright orange and yellow in a flash!

the fireworks may be Inevitable
and if they come
and come and come
then they will be followed by the serious faces
of serious young American men
who are warrioring valiantly and with high focus

they will be carrying out an ultimate job
with deadly authority.
if it is some kind of test of skill,
ability, power or resources or determination,
they will soar.
they will soar just as will our missiles
our many many many missiles
of shock and awe will soar.
baghdad will be absolutely thunderstruck.
the cradle of civilization will be rocked profoundly
the tigris and the euphrates will gush red
and black and white and soot.

we may never even see pictures of
the collateral damage.
they may all be blown
to smithereens.

but this is not my point here,
this is just the way i picture it being
if war is
“Inevitable.”
yesterday i saw another picture
i was walking along market street in
san francisco.
in the picture i saw an iraqi child

i was walking with a purpose
a purpose i shared yesterday with one or two
hundred thousand other people walking down
market street on a sunday
and with several millions more around our
globe this weekend
in lisbon, paris, jamaica plain, new york, london,
berlin, philadelphia, chicago, san diego,
sacramento, detroit, milwaukee, amsterdam,
brussels, rome, melbourne, manila,
cape town, barcelona, johannesburg, auckland,
tokyo and seoul, in colorado springs and augusta, maine,
in istanbul and baghdad,
from the bastille to the brandenburg gate,
in santa rosa and san jose, california —
i think we all want the best for that iraqi child.

i think those of us who were not
marching this weekend
also all want the best for that child.
i think all of you do,
here in this classroom today,
every single one of you,
and i think mr. president bush wants that too.

i do not think he wants the iraqi child
whose picture i saw on market street
to be collateral damage.

i sure don’t

petaluma/17 feb 2003