It’s
National Poetry Month Again! If you have been visiting here for a while,
you know what that means—it’s our fifth annual
round up of daily doses of verse! If you are new, here’s the scoop. Every day all month I will feature poets and their poems. I aim to be as broad
and inclusive as possible to style, subject, period, gender, race, and neglected voices. I don’t
want just a parade of the usual dead
white men, but a lot of them did write some damn fine poetry, so they have
their place here to. As always,
selections follow my own tastes and whims.
Yours may be different. But I am
open to—eager for—suggestions, especially for contemporary writers. I do
not subscribe to dozen of little
magazines or prowl the internet for
poetry posts. I often only stumble on
new and unknown poets and I am sure I miss some great stuff. Please feel free to turn me on to some—or be
bold and submit your own. I don’t and can’t promise to use everything.
Let’s
start with some nitty-gritty political
poetry from a nitty-gritty activist
poet who is currently serving a long, 22 year prison sentence for arson fires that destroyed a laboratory at Michigan State University involved in genetically modified crop experiments by corporate behemoth Monsanto and to commercial logging equipment in Mesick, Michigan in
1999. The activist/poet and health clinic volunteer admitted to the
charges motivated by environmental
concerns and participation in Earth
Liberation Front.
The
actions were highly controversial even in the environmental movement and left. Which may lead some to question why work by
this person is included here. Poems and
poets have traditionally been the voice of the powerless, and have often been
feared and persecuted because of that and because of the power of their words
to inspire others. It is up to the
reader to decide if the work is both deserving as poetry and justifiable politically. That can be difficult, challenging work.
 |
| Marie Mason before incarceration. |
Marie Mason was born on January
22, 1962 and raised in the Detroit area.
At the time of the arson fires she was a well-known activist who worked
as a gardener, musician, writer, Earth First! Organizer, and a volunteer for a free herbal-healthcare collective and with a local health clinic. She was
then 35 years old and married to
Frank Ambrose and had two
children. Frank was also an activist and
her partner in the arsons, as well as other actions, never charged, against luxury homes under construction in sensitive
forest land and property belonging
to a mink farmer.
Ambrose
was arrested in 2008 and agreed to become a government informant resulting in Mason’s arrest and trial in
2009. She received the maximum 20 year sentence plus two more added by the trial judge, an enhanced
terrorism provision. It is by far
the longest sentence ever handed down for environmental
sabotage during the so-called Green
Scare and was especially unusual in that care was taken that know humans
would be harmed during the fires.
Mason
is currently serving time in the high security Administration Unit at the
Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort
Worth, Texas along with the most
violent, incorrigible, and mentally ill female inmates in the Federal
system. Held in cramped condition
including hours of individual confinement with limited exercise and harsh
restrictions on visitors and most
customary prison entertainment,
educational, or rehabilitation activates. Unlike other inmates in the unit Mason
has no history of violating prison rules or violence. Prisoners there are a high security
population. Mason, the only political prisoner has received no such
plan and has no idea how to get out of the restrictive facility.
 |
| Marius Mason in Prison last December. |
In
2014 Mason came out as transgender and now wishes to be known
as Marius Mason. His supporters have altered their
website, Support Marius Mason.org , to
reflect this reality while he pursues a legal name change. Meanwhile letters can be sent to him in
prison, but need to be addressed to Marie
on the envelope.
Despite
the difficulties of his confinement, Marius continues to write and his poetry
can be found on his web page and as well as on a Facebook group. He displays
a range of passionate concerns for justice
in the world.
This
fine poem took my breath away when I encountered it on Facebook earlier this
month. The Facebook page also contains
Marius’s paintings.
Why You Can’t Bomb Your Way to Peace
Imagine
A steel-walled
room, enclosed and full
Of children
playing, grandmothers and the wash and
angry young men
with an ax to grind.
Oh yes, and a
single shooter.
The loaded
pistol raised,
What moral
authority will pull the trigger?
And if it does,
if judgment issues vengeance, eschews logic,
Directs the
bullet outward
To the metal
wall in a spirited trajectory
Behind their
heads, they turn to look,
What then?
How can one
possibly predict or calculate the collateral damage done
As that shot
explodes in lethal fragments,
Ricochets
Around the room,
Seeking
something soft.
“The rain falls
equally upon the guilty and the innocent”, we have been told
A war like this,
like weather flows
A flood that
brooks no peace
Forever
—Marius Mason
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