E Y E W E A R, THE BLOG BY TODD SWIFT

I opposed the Iraq War, while living in Paris, in 2003, and edited some anthologies at the time to help protest that illegal war.  It is therefore reasonable that some people have asked where I stand on a possible coalition of willing Western powers, planning to bomb Assad's forces.

Let us first recognise the cruel paradox of using military force to punish the use of certain lethal weapons.  On the one hand, the use of chemical weapons is surely no worse than the atomic bombs invented by the Americans, and foisted on the Japanese public horrendously, thereby altering mankind's sense of danger and evil.  On the other, using chemical weapons against unarmed civilians, let alone one's own citizens, must surely rank as one of the most vile acts a government's army can perpetrate; it is almost the definition of criminality.

The reason is, that, after WWI, the horrors of the gas attacks was seen by all, and some strange line of humanity was worked out, among agreeable nations.

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This in from the Poetry School: "Fiona Moore and Abi Parry are the two talented people picked from an immensely competitive field to become our two new developing editors. They will work closely with Poetry School staff and Michael Mackmin at The Rialto on a programme designed to explore the practicalities and philosophies of poetry editing, culminating in their editing a section of the magazine. Fiona has just published a pamphlet with Happenstance called The Only Reason for Time, and Abi is a Gregory winner who is working on her first collection."

I feel a little guilty.  I am coping with some rather personal stressful stuff at the moment, and to unwind, I have started to watch the Breaking Bad season as it starts up again, on Netflix.  I had thought to write another critical love poem to this greatest of TV shows, to compare it to Shakespeare, to speak of how Heisenberg - that co-opted alias - is now synonymous with complex evil, as Iago was.  But then I think of Egypt - and a far more complex evil swims into view - or rather, a more evil complexity - for politics and people seem to mix badly some times, and there seems no clear answer in that tragic moment for that great country - because of such confusing paradoxes - the legitimate government was overthrown for being a tyranny in utero, and the new saving revolution is seemingly more steeped in blood than the last guardians of so-called Democracy.  How to praise the depiction of one man's ruination, when in the history of today, unfolding, we see a whole nation's sel…

Charles Bernstein, the major American poet-critic, has written a new translation of a Kandinksy poem. Or adaption. He has kindly offered it to Eyewear to publish online, with this accompanying photo, taken by Lawrence Schwartzwald.

Song
So sits a man In tighter loop In tighter loop Encircling scents What a fluke
He’s got no ear Also missing eye. Blush of sound Sun goes round Senses won’t be found. What’s overthrown Now stands as home. No speech’s tongued The sung is song. So it's the man He’s got no ear Also missing eye Flush of sound Sun goes round Senses finely ground.
After Wassily Kandinsky, “Lied” (Klänge, 1912)