Page 2 – Of Indigo and Saffron – Michael McClure
In “Poisoned Wheat” McClure protests violence done by governments and societies. But he is not only opposing the physical violence of war, he is also addressing another type of violence. When a government commits atrocities, it is inflicting guilt for those atrocities upon its own people, a guilt which does not belong to them.
Citizens of the United States
are in the hands of traitors
who ignore their will and force
them into silent acceptance
of needless and undesired warfare.
EACH MAN, WOMAN, CHILD
is innocent
and not responsible
for the atrocities committed by any
government. Mistakes, hypocrisies, crimes
that result in the present
FASCISM
are made in the past in
HISTORY.
Structural mechanisms of Society
create guilt in the individual.
…
But GUILT
is untenable! Guilt is not
inheritable. Acceptance of guilt
for a Capitalist heritage creates fear.
NO ONE IS CULPABLE FOR THESE CRIMES!
-“Poisoned Wheat” (102)
It is truly amazing how applicable this lines are to the current geopolitical state, and yet how little people seem to know of McClure’s work.
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I would say that most poetry is best when heard read aloud. There is something to the intonational cadence of the human voice that amplifies punctuation.