International-Poets'-Strike

Dear Friends:

There is no gentle way to put this. The sky is reeling, the cherry
trees have stalled their budding. The unimaginable has happened, and
we are living in the merciless nightmare of war. Against all our
pleas, all our protests, President Bush has launched military
attacks against the nation of Iraq. As we write this, thousands of
innocent lives are in jeopardy. While we can't undo the atrocities
that have already transpired, we can mourn them and try to
anticipate and prevent future outrages.

Our plan is to overwhelm President Bush with our passion and poetry.
We designate April 1- April 8 (National Poetry Month) as
International Poet?s Strike. At this time we will converge on The
White House via email. Between the hours of 1 - 6 p.m. E.S.T., we
ask that you send statements, lyrics, letters and poems (your own or
one that you've selected) to the President and/or the Vice
President. Let him know that his decision to invade Iraq epitomizes
his brand of evil; that the shock & awe of the current events are
the world's shock & disappointment. Let him know that his actions
are inhumane and cowardly. Remind him that the world has not fallen
asleep. We will continue to protest this invasion. We will continue
to use our voices as a weapon of mass instruction as he has used his
voice as a weapon of mass distraction.

The week should culminate in open mic readings; so, start contacting
your local coffeehouses, bars, bookstores, housing co-ops to
organize this momentous event. If we work in solidarity, this will
be an amazing movement of historic relevance. Please contact
everyone you know and start mobilizing! And then write write write!
Remember, the plan is to inundate the president and vice president
with our written voices everyday for an entire week. As the bombs
plummet from the sky everyday, our voices will plummet through email
everyday. We will invade and conquer. We will shock & awe. We will
offer a spectacular event. We will turn the President's message to
the world on its head!

Send the emails to President Bush at president@whitehouse.gov or/and
Vice President Dick Cheney at vice-president@whitehouse.gov with the
heading ?National Poet?s Strike!? If your email bounces back to you,
persist! Please pass this information on to everyone you know. The
more participants we can garner, the louder our voice will ring. The
President must know that he has lost the faith of the world.

The role of the poet is and has always been to speak when the world
has turned silent. We've already witnessed the impact of working in
solidarity, let's keep the momentum going!

In Solidarity,

Your fellow poets for peace/against this invasion

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