A powerful antiwar poem

One of the more powerful antiwar poems is Carl Sandburg's Ready to Kill. Written in first person, the poem's about the bronze statue of an unnamed Army general who's carrying a flag, sword, and gun. However, instead of being impressed by it, Sandburg wrote:

"I want to smash the whole thing into a pile of junk to be
hauled away to the scrap yard."

To Sandburg, the general doesn't belong in the company of others who've been memorialized in bronze:

"the farmer, the miner, the shop man, the factory
hand, the fireman and the teamster,"

They deserve the honor, Sandburg said, because they do the world's real work; they help people rather than harm them. He labels them the world's "real huskies." Unlike the general, each of them is not:

"Ready to kill anybody that gets in his way,
Ready to run the red blood and slush the bowels of men
all over the sweet new grass of the prairie."

I wonder what caused Sandburg to view the general's statue so negatively.

Sandburg fought in the Spanish-American War as a member of the 6th Illinois Infantry.

Sandburg's Fog

A poem does not have to be long nor laden with abstraction to create a powerful image. For example, though Carl Sandburg's poem, Fog, contains only six lines, and most of its words are one syllable, it creates a vivid image of fog.

The one thing about the poem that puzzles me is why, in line 5, Sandburg uses the word "silent" rather than words that imply silence, as he did in the first two lines.

Fog
by Carl Sandburg

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

Sandburg: A word magician

Carl Sandburg had a magical way with words. Though he often used simple words, he combined them in a way that empowered them.

In his poem, PASSERS-BY, Sandburg seeks to create an experience. He reflects upon the looks on their faces, now reduced to "flash memories." He remembers the way their movements and voices awakened the city. He especially remembers the lean people. Why his eyes gravitated to them and his mind chose to etch them within its memory is unclear, but that's what they did.

PASSERS-BY

PASSERS-BY,
Out of your many faces
Flash memories to me
Now at the day end
Away from the sidewalks
Where your shoe soles traveled
And your voices rose and blend
To form the city's afternoon roar
Hindering an old silence.

Passers-by,
I remember lean ones among you,
Throats in the clutch of a hope,
Lips written over with strivings,
Mouths that kiss only for love.
Records of great wishes slept with,
Held long
And prayed and toiled for. .

Yes,
Written on
Your mouths
And your throats
I read them
When you passed by.

Li Po Still Lives

In China, they wrote poetry more than a thosand years before the United States became a nation. One of China's greatest poets was Li Po. He lived from 701–762.

Here is one of his poems:

Taking Leave of a Friend by Li Po

Blue mountains lie beyond the north wall;
Round the city's eastern side flows the white water.
Here we part, friend, once forever.
You go ten thousand miles, drifting away
Like an unrooted water-grass.
Oh, the floating clouds and the thoughts of a wanderer!
Oh, the sunset and the longing of an old friend!
We ride away from each other, waving our hands,
While our horses neigh softly, softly . . . .

Simon Elegant wrote a novel about Li Po's life, A Floating Life, that was well-reviewed by the New York Times.

Learn more about Li Po.

The link below will lead you to a well-rated book of Li Po's poems.