Poets Against War continues the tradition of socially engaged poetry by creating venues for poetry as a voice against war, tyranny and oppression.

Teresa Anderson

58 years old
Jersey City, New Jersey, USA

Translator, poet, performer, teacher of creative writing, Teresa Anderson has taught as a poet-in-the-schools for 25 years.

Looking at a New Grandson

He is three weeks old
his ears are pink shells
his fingers the buds of lilies.
I am acutely aware
of the motion of his little lungs.
He makes snuffling sounds
and wriggles his face
in search of his mother's breast.

Born into a world in turmoil
he may not always know peaceful days
though his mother is a warrior protector
and his father holds him against his chest
away from these bitter winter winds.

As long as I don't think of
a grandmother in Baghdad
as long as I don't picture her
gazing with this same adoration
at her new grandson
as long as I don't envision
the coming firestorm
as long as I don't picture
the immolation of his tiny body
I can get through the day
without howling against the wind
without weeping until my body
turns to dust
but my sister has not slept
since her son shipped out
for the U.S. airfields in Bahrain
and warlords gather once again
to plan purificaiton by fire.

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