The Purple
Poets
Purple Poets and Peace Project, reading
'Found Poems from the Quaker Library'
HIROSHIMA DAY
AUGUST 6th 2011
Tavistock Square, Camden
noon to one p.m.
(organised by the London Region CND)
Hiroshima
Day is observed in many parts of the world
with special vigils and peace marches, commemorating
the dropping of the first atomic bomb on the Japanese
city of Hiroshima on August 6 1945.
Three days later a second bomb fell on the city of Nagasaki.
The Camden part of this World-wide Peace Event
is held annually in Bloomsbury, organised
by the London Region Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).
It is held in The Tavistock Square Peace Gardens
every August 6th, to remember and renew Pledges For
Peace.
TAVISTOCK
SQUARE HIROSHIMA DAY COMMEMORATION
AUGUST 6th 2011 address by Hetty Bower
Followed by the Purple Poets and Bernard Miller
HETTY BOWER
I'm just reminding myself, I was nearly nine years old on August 4th 1914
-- and no television, no radio, but newspapers informed me that our school
holiday had been extended. Hurrah!
Why? Because our school premises were needed as recruiting centres for the
young men to go to The War That Was To End All Wars.
War was a word to me. It seemed an idea that they should stop.
It didn't take take this young school-girl very long for the reality of War
to become evident.
This time saw men, with one trouser leg rolled up because there was
no human leg to go in it. We saw men with jackets and empty sleeves hanging
down.
War was not just a word anymore, it was an ugly reality.
I have spent my adult years trying to bring some form of civilization to
human kind ....
Why should human beings kill each other? Uncivilised, and I want the world
I live in to be civilised.
My first great-grandchild will be one year old on Tuesday. I want him to
grow up and live in a world at Peace.
"The Purple Poets and Peace Project"
FOUR FOUND POEMS FROM THE QUAKER LIBRARY
"TROUBLESOME PEOPLE"
The names in the titles
are the names of the people
who wrote the original prose accounts.
POEM ONE: The ADJOURNED YEARLY MEETING, 1916
by Corder Catchpool
We
reaffirm
our entire opposition
to compulsory military service.
War involves the denial
of human brotherhood.
Freedom from war
will only be brought about
by the faithfulness of individuals
to their utmost convictions.
It is not a question
of the methods of England or of Germany,
but of the methods of God
against the methods of the world.
POEM TWO: A. RUTH FRY
STATE HOUSEKEEPING
Professor Malinowski tells of a cannibal
who could not understand one thing
about the World War:
however we managed
to eat all the slain.
The Professor explained.
It was the old cannibal's turn
to be shocked:
'How dreadful!
to kill all those people
without any real object!'
Since the 'war to end all war'
16 wars, have been fought.
The World War cost 400 thousand
million dollars. Great Britain's share
was 50 thousand million dollars
-- a thousand million pounds.
10 million known dead soldiers
3 million presumed dead soldiers
13 million dead civilians.
20 million wounded.
Without any object,
without any good result, without any sense,
without any morality, without any justice,
without any mercy.
Surely that must be the verdict on war
by any wise Housekeeper.
POEM THREE: ADIN BALLOW
THE UPAS TREE
The bloody theme of war loomed up:
War.
Resisting evil with evil
Deadly force with deadly force
Which Christ forbade.
I committed myself to total Abstinence
from all war, preparations for war,
glorifications of war, and any deadly force
I did not allow myself to be sophisticated
into any excuses. I would neither fight,
vote, pray, nor give any approval.
War. This poisonous Upas tree
must be destroyed.
POEM FOUR: CLIFFORD ALLEN.
THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
TO THE CONCLUDING CONVENTION. 1919.
I now submit to you the following resolution,
and I suggest that you should adopt it standing:
"Throughout the war
we have stood
for the brotherhood of man,
and in the name
of that ideal have resisted
conscription.
It is not by bloodshed
that freedom can be won
or militarism destroyed.
We were in prison
today we are free,
but the world is still in prison.
It can be released
by the spirit
of unconquorable love.
Purple Poets reading at: Kim Morrissey, Eppie Caredda,
Patsy Futatsugi, Bithi Das, and special guest reader Bernard Miller
CND 2011 PROGRAMME
66th Anniversary Ceremony
On August 6th 2011, noon - 1 pm
by the Commemorative Cherry Tree
in Tavistock Square, London WC1
This ceremony is held annually at the cherry tree planted in the Square in
1967 by the then Mayor of Camden, Councillor Millie Miller, in memory of
the victims, past and present, of the atomic bombs dropped on the Japanese
cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6th and 9th August 1945.
Programme
Compere: Jim Brann, London CND Secretary
Song: Raised Voices: The Hiroshima Song.
Cllt. Abdul Quadir, the Mayor of Camden
Bruce Kent
Song: Raised Voices: Against the Atom Bomb
Ewa Jasiewicz Free Gaza Movement
Two Songs: Anthony Flaum (tenor)
Rev. Nagase, Monk at Battersea Peace Pagoda
Tony Benn
Participants will be invited to observe a minute's silence
and lay flowers beneath the cherry tree in remembrance
of the victims of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
and of all victims of war and terrorism.
Song: Raised Voices: The H-Bomb's Thunder (all join in)
Join us in a picnic after the ceremony. Please bring food to share.
Some food and drink may be available to purchase.
'Peace-maker (for Hetty Bower)' by Bithi Das, inspired
by Hetty Bower's 'Poetry and Peace Talk' at the Camden National Poetry Day
Celebrations hosted by the Purple Poets, 2010
6th August 2010 - Tavistock Square, London
Commemorating the tragic first use of an Atom
Bomb
The ceremony will be followed by Shoso Kawamoto - Japanese Hibakusha
at Friends' House 2 - 3:30.
P R O G R A M M
E
Chairing Events - Jeremy Corbyn,
MP
HETTY BOWER: Speaking Peace 2010
A found poetry project
shown at the open poetry workshop at the Camden Town Hall
Camden National Poetry Day 2010
and first shown in Copenhagen, November 16th 2010
by Purple Poets' poetry workshop leader Kim Morrissey
Where Have All the Flowers Gone? (Pete Seeger) Vine and Fig Tree Song
Jenny Jones - Green Party G. London Assembly
Ken Livingston
Flower laying at the 'Cherry Tree'
Hetty Bower's birthday is on Sunday October 3rd.
TO ALL WOMEN! (a poem
cycle)
(Quaker Library WAR Box 1, pamphlet 5, 1917)
a found poetry cycle by
The West Euston Workshop Purple Poets
(and friends Bernard Miller, and Katja Schmidt)
from the 'Purple Poets and Peace'project
co-produced
with the Quaker Library and the West Euston Workshop
POEM
1:
From a German Woman
(corrected text by Katya Schmidt, translation by Bernard Miller)
Protest! Protest! Die Stimmen hoch und laut!
Ihr Frauen auf, soweit dies Elend graut!
Die Menschheit blutet! Es ist EUER Blut!
Man schlagt das Leben tot. Und es ist EUER Gut!
Ihr habt's gegeben und Ihr habt's bewacht!
Protest! Protest! Bei EUER Liebe Macht!
(written by MARIE ENGELMANN
Dresden, November 1914)
Protest! Protest! Let your
voices clearly boom!
Women arise! Stand against the lowering gloom!
Mankind lies bleeding. Its blood came from YOUR womb.
Life itself is cut down. It was YOU who made it bloom.
It was you who gave it and you who watched from above.
Protest! Protest! Through the power of YOUR love.
POEM 2:
THE FULL HORROR OF WAR:
From One Who is in the Midst of It
(A German Soldier's Appeal to Women)
I've several times wondered
Why Women do not demand Peace.
This is the business of Women:
To put a stop
To the bitterness
Of national hatred
And for all women
To say to each other:
We will save our men
Further bloodshed
is senseless.
We will save our men
Of all nations.
POEM 3:
TO ALL WOMEN!
The Call of a Higher Humanity.
(a found poem from the writing of Emily Hobhouse)
Fellow women -
The War is crushing
Helpless millions.
The people
are perishing.
Mostly Women
And Children.
Women
And Children.
We ask: must it continue?
We ask: why must it continue!
We ask: why?
POEM 4.
from LETTER FROM A FRENCH MOTHER
November 21st, 1914
My two sons
Have been in the trenches
Since the end of September
And have never slept
In a bed
It would be nothing
If the cold
Had not set in
So dreadfully
If you cannot make Peace
At least make a truce
And save thousands and thousands
Of human lives.
POEM 5:
6. from the MANIFESTO OF SWISS WOMEN, 1915
We wish our sons and daughters
To be heroic
But not on the battlefield
Where people murder
And are murdered.
My guru Kim asked me to write
something for today and read it in front
of my fellow travellers. My writing is:
Today
the 6th of August
Hiroshima Day.
The World is celebrating
Today - the Day of Peace.
Today, we are in
a war-torn country
it is not only our journey
to discover Afghanistan
but also, in a way, a Peace mission.
Our contribution to
poor naked people
will be to give them love
and happiness
during our journey.
Peace
is a very powerful word.
When there is a war
there will be a peace
so our prayer for today is:
Peace
on earth
and every corner
God save his children.
Amen.
Bithi composed and read this poem on August 6th 2010 to fellow travellers
Danny (journalist, New York), Peter (Professor, Seattle), Valerie
(anthropologist, Winnipeg), Cameron (retired lecturer Eton College, Slough),
Kent (businessman, Thailand), Sue (importer/exporter, Balham, London) and
Jess, group leader for Hinterland Travel (Yorkshire) at the breakfast table,
of The Bamyan Guest House, Bamyan, Afghanistan.
For permission to use any of the poems
or to contact the Purple Poets regarding readings,
festivals, workshops or permissions to print or perform,
please contact The Purple Poets
poets AT purplepoets.com
or
Ferdous Rahman
rahmanferdous AT hotmail.com
Edgar Cahn's four core values
which everyone should support
1. We treat people as assets.
We support the positive actions people can
and want to do for their community.
2. We are re-defining work
Regardless of the task,
everyone's time is valued equally
we value whatever it takes to make
neighbourhoods safe and vibrant.
3.We reciprocate.
We require that everyone gives something back
ensuring all in our society have the opportunity
to be involved in their community.
4. We support the development of social networks.
These require ongoing investments of social capital
generated by trust, reciprocity and civic engagement.
ththink puple! think poets!
www.purplepoets.com
Bloomsbury Workshop
poets AT purplepoets.com
twitter: @PurplePoets
mailing address:
flat 18 Chenies Street Chambers
Bloomsbury, London WC1E 7ET
poetry workshop leader Kim
Morrissey
