Sunday Poetry: Phillip Levine

Rivers & Gardens

the strongest argument against war is the nature of war
the strongest argument against war is the nature of war

The river is Jordan
and the Garden is wild
a burst of flowers
and the rupture of seed
the sky bleeds and blows
clouds and people to pieces
these are not pretty petals
with their sudden bloom in crowded places
these tulips have no sweet
these roses have no name
the wine has turned
the bread has mold
the birthplace of the 3
may now bury a million
and here is a boy who has lost his shoes
below the knees

The river is Tigris
and the Garden is wild
roses torn from stem
who wears these thorns?
who cut these palms?
who parted these sands?
who razed this mecca?
Eden boils
a failure of seed
the apple is cut and rots
roots are ripped
ivy tangles
here is a boy who has lost his shoes
below the knees
and a father with no sons

The river is Euphrates
and the Garden is wild
armed and fertile
with something new and cruel
the pin is pulled
and ready for seed
the soil is plowed open with pits
green bolts to red
what bounty?
what harvest?
war is a crop
for fattening a few
and feeding no one
rain cuts a man into parts
this piece was his leg, here lies his arm
these things used to belong to him
the bloom is off the rose
and in the powder
what tills this soil?
what waters these wounds?
here is a boy who has lost his shoes
below the knees
and a father with no sons

the strongest argument against war is the nature of war

The river is Hudson
and the Garden is wild
Here is a boy who's lost his shoes
below the knees
And a father with no sons
this is the season of bolt and ruin
and the bruising of fruit
here is the shrinking vine
the drift root and the idle rain
where is the spring sprout?
how is this harvest fall?

The river is Potomac
and the Garden is wild
Here, everywhere,
are boys who have lost their shoes
below the knees.

Phillip Levine

(Published by Poets Against the War.)