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A review by misspalah
The War Works Hard by Dunya Mikhail, Elizabeth Winslow
5.0
Since it is still considered August and and i figured it's not too late for me to join Women in Translation Month (#WITMonth). I don't normally join any monthly reading challenge because i am just too fussy and picky on what i will read next. However, the book that i just finished reading coincidentally making me participate in the challenge. Dunya Mikhail wrote this collection of her poems titled the war works hard in Arabic. Like any Iraqis, she doesn't want to leave her country. However, her writing bringing an extra attention by Iraqi Fascist Authority as her themes stood out as Anti War. She fled from Iraq to Jordan and eventually, United States of America.
.
.
I don't have favorite poems from this collection of poems. The poems carried a baggage of emotion and you can sense it. The abandonment, the war cry, the injustice, the killing of civilians, the liberty of others on the expense of another lives, the landscape of her own country that she no longer recognized - All of this are somewhat rooted deeply in her poems. The titular poem 'the war works hard' is an epitome of how magnificent her writing is.
.
.
How magnificent the war is!
How eager
and efficient!
Early in the morning,
it wakes up the sirens
and dispatches ambulances
to various places,
swings corpses through the air,
rolls stretchers to the wounded,
summons rain
from the eyes of mothers,
digs into the earth
dislodging many things
from under the ruins…
Some are lifeless and glistening,
others are pale and still throbbing…
It produces the most questions
in the minds of children,
entertains the gods
by shooting fireworks and missiles
into the sky,
sows mines in the fields
and reaps punctures and blisters,
urges families to emigrate,
stands beside the clergymen
as they curse the devil
(poor devil, he remains
with one hand in the searing fire)…
The war continues working, day and night.
It inspires tyrants
to deliver long speeches,
awards medals to generals
and themes to poets.
It contributes to the industry
of artificial limbs,
provides food for flies,
adds pages to the history books,
achieves equality
between killer and killed,
teaches lovers to write letters,
accustoms young women to waiting,
fills the newspapers
with articles and pictures,
builds new houses
for the orphans,
invigorates the coffin makers,
gives grave diggers
a pat on the back
and paints a smile on the leader’s face.
The war works with unparalleled diligence!
Yet no one gives it
a word of praise.
.
.
I don't have favorite poems from this collection of poems. The poems carried a baggage of emotion and you can sense it. The abandonment, the war cry, the injustice, the killing of civilians, the liberty of others on the expense of another lives, the landscape of her own country that she no longer recognized - All of this are somewhat rooted deeply in her poems. The titular poem 'the war works hard' is an epitome of how magnificent her writing is.
.
.
How magnificent the war is!
How eager
and efficient!
Early in the morning,
it wakes up the sirens
and dispatches ambulances
to various places,
swings corpses through the air,
rolls stretchers to the wounded,
summons rain
from the eyes of mothers,
digs into the earth
dislodging many things
from under the ruins…
Some are lifeless and glistening,
others are pale and still throbbing…
It produces the most questions
in the minds of children,
entertains the gods
by shooting fireworks and missiles
into the sky,
sows mines in the fields
and reaps punctures and blisters,
urges families to emigrate,
stands beside the clergymen
as they curse the devil
(poor devil, he remains
with one hand in the searing fire)…
The war continues working, day and night.
It inspires tyrants
to deliver long speeches,
awards medals to generals
and themes to poets.
It contributes to the industry
of artificial limbs,
provides food for flies,
adds pages to the history books,
achieves equality
between killer and killed,
teaches lovers to write letters,
accustoms young women to waiting,
fills the newspapers
with articles and pictures,
builds new houses
for the orphans,
invigorates the coffin makers,
gives grave diggers
a pat on the back
and paints a smile on the leader’s face.
The war works with unparalleled diligence!
Yet no one gives it
a word of praise.