<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div dir="auto"><div dir="ltr">On Being Asked to Write a Poem Against the War in Vietnam<div><br></div><div> </div><div>Well I have and in fact</div><div>more than one and I’ll</div><div>tell you this too</div><div> </div><div>I wrote one against</div><div>Algeria that nightmare</div><div>and another against</div><div> </div><div>Korea and another</div><div>against the one I was in</div><div> </div><div>and I don’t remember</div><div>how many against</div><div>the three</div><div> </div><div>when I was a boy</div><div>Abysinia Spain and</div><div>Harlan County</div><div> </div><div>and not one</div><div>breath was restored</div><div>to one</div><div> </div><div>shattered throat</div><div>mans womans or childs</div><div>not one not</div><div> </div><div>one</div><div>but death went on and on</div><div>never looking aside</div><div> </div><div>except now and then</div><div>with a furtive half-smile</div><div>to make sure I was noticing.</div><div><br></div><div> - Hayden Carruth </div><div><br></div><div dir="ltr"><!-- signature open --><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><br><!-- signature close --></div></div></div></body></html>