{"id":2305,"date":"2017-05-01T00:00:08","date_gmt":"2017-05-01T04:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=2305"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:47:01","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:47:01","slug":"may-1-poem-touching-a-longing-for-peace-in-a-violent-world-dunya-mikhail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2017\/05\/01\/may-1-poem-touching-a-longing-for-peace-in-a-violent-world-dunya-mikhail\/","title":{"rendered":"May 1 &#8211;  poem touching a longing for peace in a violent world &#8211; Dunya Mikhail"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Monday \u00a0May 1 \u00a0&#8211; \u201c . . . \u00a0so the weapons sleep<br \/>\nbeneath the dust . . . .\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I met the poet Dunya Mikhail when another poet and life-long friend Joy Harjo, read and performed at The University of Michigan\u00a0early March. \u00a0We posted one of Dunya\u2019s poems, \u201cI Was in a Hurry\u201d on March 13. \u00a0These past weeks meet so many of us with the threats of war and violence that the Three Holy Days leading to Easter sometimes opened the congregations where I worshipped (Gesu Parish across McNichols Road from the University and the University\u2019s chapel) into an eloquent lament for our wounded world and music alive with the longing for a healing of those wounds.<\/p>\n<p>That is probably why Dunya Mikhail came to mind this morning. \u00a0She emigrated to Detroit\u2019s Chaldean community from her birth country, Iraq. \u00a0Today\u2019s poem, lyrical about violent realities brings a realism that invites wonder and courage to accompany grief and moral fatigue.<\/p>\n<p>Best to read aloud, with pauses.<\/p>\n<p>Have a blest Monday,<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>john st sj<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Today<\/strong><strong>\u2019s Post \u00a0 &#8211; \u00a0\u201c<\/strong>Another Planet\u201d<br \/>\nI have a special ticket<br \/>\nto another planet<br \/>\nbeyond this Earth.<br \/>\nA comfortable world, and beautiful:<br \/>\na world without much smoke,<br \/>\nnot too hot<br \/>\nand not too cold.<br \/>\nThe creatures<br \/>\nare gentler there,<br \/>\nand the governments<br \/>\nhave no secrets.<br \/>\nThe police are nonexistent:<br \/>\nthere are no problems<br \/>\nand no fights.<br \/>\nAnd the schools<br \/>\ndon\u2019t exhaust their students<br \/>\nwith too much work<br \/>\nfor history has yet to start<br \/>\nand there\u2019s no geography<br \/>\nand no other languages.<br \/>\nAnd even better:<br \/>\nthe war<br \/>\nhas left its \u201cr\u201d\u00a0behind<br \/>\nand turned into love,<br \/>\nso the weapons sleep<br \/>\nbeneath the dust,<br \/>\nand the planes pass by<br \/>\nwithout shelling the cities,<br \/>\nand the boats<br \/>\nlook like smiles<br \/>\non the water.<br \/>\nAll things<br \/>\nare peaceful<br \/>\nand kind<br \/>\non the other planet<br \/>\nbeyond this Earth.<br \/>\nBut still I hesitate<br \/>\nto go alone.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Dunya Mikhail<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2017\/03\/Dunya-Mikhail.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2237\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2017\/03\/Dunya-Mikhail.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"198\" height=\"244\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>from\u00a0<u>The Iraqi Nights<\/u>. Copyright \u00a9 2013 by Dunya Mikhail.<br \/>\nReprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corporation.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dunya_Mikhail\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dunya_Mikhail<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Monday \u00a0May 1 \u00a0&#8211; \u201c . . . \u00a0so the weapons sleep beneath the dust . . . .\u201d I met the poet Dunya Mikhail when another poet and life-long friend Joy Harjo, read and performed at The University of &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2017\/05\/01\/may-1-poem-touching-a-longing-for-peace-in-a-violent-world-dunya-mikhail\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2305"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2305"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2306,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2305\/revisions\/2306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}