BlueIris
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Sun Mar-30-08 08:55 AM
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The BlueIris Semi-Nightly Poetry Break, 3/30/08 |
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"The Battle Hymn of the Republic"
Defending you, my country, hurts My eyes. I see the drums, the glory, The marching through the gory, Unthinkable mud of soldiers' guts
And opened hearts: I want to serve. I join the military, Somehow knowing that I'll never marry. The barracks' silence as I shave
Is secretive and full of cocks. I think to myself, What if I'm a queer, What if too many years Go by and then my brain unlocks—
The days seem uniformed, Crisp salutes in all the trees; A sandstorm buries the casualties Of a war. What if I were born
This way, I think to myself, What if I were dead, An enemy bullet in my head. I see oil burning in the Gulf,
Which hurts my eyes. My sergeant cries. Now he's a real man— I sucked his cock behind a van In the Presidio, beneath a sky
So full of orange clouds I thought I was in love. I think to myself, What have I become? I lose myself in the crowds
Of the Castro, the months go by And suddenly they want to lift the ban. I don't think they can. I still want to die
My death of honor, I want to die Defending values I don’t understand; The men I see walking hand in hand Bring this love song to my mind.
—Rafael Campo
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BlueIris
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Sun Mar-30-08 08:57 AM
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1. Campo wrote of this poem in "The Best American Poetry 1995": |
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Edited on Sun Mar-30-08 09:00 AM by BlueIris
"I wrote 'Battle Hymn of the Republic' after hearing the moving story of Jose Zuniga, a much-decorated officer in the United States Army who was summarily discharged after revealing his homosexuality on National Coming Out Day, October 11, 1993. As a child of immigrants myself, raised as I imagine he must have been, with an ardent and abiding love of the freedoms afforded by this great country, I had once aspired to military service—but quickly reconsidered when I learned that my homosexuality was incompatible with the government's discriminatory policies. Instead, I chose a career nearly as repressive and regimented: medicine. Writing the poem was therapeutic for me, an antidote to the isolation I felt within my own profession as I struggled to be 'out' during my training—which meant speaking up when an attendant made homophobic remarks about a patient dying of AIDS to slow-dancing with my partner of ten years in front of colleagues at departmental functions. It was also a gesture toward the loving community I knew must exist somewhere in the outside world. Banned from expressing my patriotism because of one facet of my identity, I felt I could finally fulfill that impulse by giving voice to, and defending, a nation that would have me. This poem is dedicated to Jose Zuniga, and the thousands of gay and lesbian people who continue to serve their country, bravely but in silence."
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BlueIris
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Sun Mar-30-08 12:56 PM
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BlueIris
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Sun Mar-30-08 03:00 PM
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3. This is the last time I'll have a chance to kick this until after "John Adams" tonight. |
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So I hope everyone reads it!
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BlueIris
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Mon Mar-31-08 01:29 AM
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4. I am very sad that this has received no comments. |
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You know what this means I have to do now, don't you?
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CaliforniaPeggy
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Mon Mar-31-08 01:37 AM
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I am sorry I didn't see this all day...
I've had my mind full with my own threads...
And with "John Adams" too...
This is an amazing, and very painful poem...
Thank you for posting it...
It makes me weep :cry:
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BlueIris
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Mon Mar-31-08 01:58 AM
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I did not mean to make you weep. I just thought it was a cool poem. And that more people here should have read it (cries).
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CaliforniaPeggy
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Mon Mar-31-08 02:00 AM
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I cry easily...
And more people should read it, dammit!
It is a very cool poem!
:hug:
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Tue Apr 23rd 2024, 02:13 PM
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