The Personal is Political. The Political is Personal.

 
bathing her heart

America,
where are your credentials?

the final two lines of Anne Sexton's "The Firebombers."

According to Middlebrook's biography, Sexton wrote the poem in the winter of 1967-68, after seeing a photograph in a newspaper.

[No, it's not the photograph I initially thought of, which was taken by AP photographer Nick Ut after a napalm attack on the village of Trang Bang on June 8, 1972.]

At around the same time, the biography recounts, Sexton wrote in her journal the following:

"I hate killing of any kind, and protest the war in every way, and my husband thinks we ought to 'win' the war.

"I live a lie. [. . .]

"We just don't talk about the war. A lie."

I wonder how many Americans are living a similar lie today, amidst their friends, families, loved ones, co-workers, religious congregations and communities?





posted by TiR at 7:31 PM