THE AMERICAN FLAG OF DEATH
Tuesday, December 29th, 2009
painting by Claudia Chapline
In a dream, I’m standing on a ladder painting a large (American) flag. When I awoke the next day, I sketched the flag in my journal and then I made a small painting from the drawing/dream. The stars resemble exploding bombs, the stripes, missiles. A skeleton’s head emerges from the war machinery.
For me, the flag painting symbolizes the discrepancy between American ideals and manifest American policy.
March 11, 2006
Claudia Chapline
Artist, activist, Gallery owner
Stinson Beach, California
www.cchapline.com
(Editor’s Note: Around the time of the dream, beginning the third year of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis had died.)
~~~~~~~~~
THE PEACE POETRY OF CLAUDIA CHAPLINE
March Wind in February
Roaring dark branches crash against the house
weather strips whistle wind songs sunbrellas
flap white caps yellow chairs in the lagoon
pine trees wave hello crane pulleys sway overhead
aluminum thoughts plastic words fly in and out
say goodbye dreams fragment gates open
between sleep and waking I wheel out and in
outside a feral cat cries
elsewhere a flag shreds the far groaning
screams in a wind of fire I see it a flag of
death red stripes of blood dripping on the
white ribs of civilizations the stars fiery
sparks from bombs bursting in the blue black
night of lands destroyed in this wind of war
but here now in Eastcoot Creek wild salmon
still spawn between the willows
here the camp the captain time being what
not forever spilling seeds of life in silver mist.
October 10, 2001
On the anniversary of my mother¹s death
the United States is bombing Afghanistan
they are bombing Afghanistan
to rid the world of evil
To rid the world of evil
the U.S. military
is killing Afghan civilians.
food drops onto landmines.
my tears are falling
on the anniversary of
my mother¹s death.
it is Arts Day in California.
How They Strut
High mucky mucks decorate each other
with ribboned medals of valor for service
in the war of their making
women of the world
raise your voices against their wars
I see the goddess Kali dancing with them her
dance of death she wears a necklace of skulls
she holds a bloody head in her left hand a
burnt child in the other
women of the world remove your rings
that sparkle with African tears
how they strut those high mucky mucks
preserving freedom to kill for oil
women of the world join hands
in a circle of love
how they strut smiling those
greedy killers patting each other¹s backs
walk together toward a necklace of peace
women of the world
how they strut those old men with pendulous bellies
while their young civil servants sons of other fathers
fall and die in their War on Iraq
how they strut while the world cries
for the voices of women
the voices of love.
