In October Before The War

In October 2002, I found myself involuntarily responding to the looming outrage of the Iraq invasion after its people had suffered under twelve years of international sanctions. Reading those first poems at a small gathering, several university students approached me to read at their "teach-in" opposing the war. An extended season of composition followed whose orientation was both the domestic and international implications of the war. That range of inquiry proved far more extensive than I anticipated. It began to cover a huge canvas as America defined itself, the half-truths and lies told a bewildered, frightened, and wholly unprepared -- intellectually and morally -- people, who are now faced with the vital question of our nation's future direction, even survival: whether to finally take off the blinders and lean-to in an effort to be what we advertise, or turn our backs on reality and suffer whatever fate offers? I think more than anything else this is the central issue these poems deal with in looking at some representative people, their attitudes and actions, in both the historical and present context of their lives.Dodd, Bill is the author of 'In October Before The War', published 2004 under ISBN 9781413714425 and ISBN 1413714420.