Good Grass, Bad Grass

[Matthew Cissell]

Well, you people know your Grass, that's for sure. Some interesting and funny comments

For me the poem is bad Grass (though we may ask why he chose this form), although I know that aestethics was not his first concern.

If I corrrectly understand the motivation behind it, then I think it is good Grass. I don't want to explain the poem with dementia or as a writer's way of getting some attention. I suspect it is concern regarding our great human folly. Let me explain. I don't think he has misunderstood the "sabre rattling" or the media attention. He just knows how idiotic we are.
I'm sure many of us have seen two young people (most often men) fall into the following situation. Some conflict occurs, words are exchanged and before long both find themselves apparently locked into a situation with a very limited set of options. Moreover, those around are itching to see a fight. The two of them don't really want a fight, they would like for the other to back down, but neither can. At some point a punch may be thrown or a little push leads to the final physical conflict. Nation states aren't much different. Brinkmanship is called so because it leads to the brink. Perhaps Herr Grass sees us too close to the brink, with all our hubris leading us right over the edge one more time.

Nuttyyahoo may just think that he can maneuver the US given the election year politics, I don't think he is much less foolish than Bush II and the Cheney cabal. Who's in a betting mood? High stakes here.

Shema Israel, our fear is fear for all of the children and people in the mid-east. I'm sure Grass wants no more to muzzle Israel than to empower Iran with nuclear capability. He's a man who has seen the worst of war and humanity, and he is aware that there are not enough left to remind those who have not experienced it. Fools rush in...

"If a thing is worth saying then it's worth saying badly" (Robert Hunter).

mc otis