The BlueIris Semi-Nightly Poetry Break, 3/30/08

[BlueIris]

"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

[BlueIris]

1. Campo wrote of this poem in "The Best American Poetry 1995":

"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."

[BlueIris]

2. Kick.

[BlueIris]

3. This is the last time I'll have a chance to kick this until after "John Adams" tonight.

So I hope everyone reads it!

[BlueIris]

4. I am very sad that this has received no comments.

You know what this means I have to do now, don't you?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. My dear BlueIris...

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:

[BlueIris]

6. Awwww, Ms. C-Peg!

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).

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. No worries!

I cry easily...

And more people should read it, dammit!

It is a very cool poem!

:hug: