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Robert Bly, the author of two important
books of poetry -SILENCE IN THE
SNOWY FIELDS and THE LIGHT AROUND
THE BODY-organized American Writers
against the Vietnam War. Winning the
National Book Award for his second book,
he donated the $1000 to the anti-draft
Resistance.
POEMS BY ROBERT BLY
NEAR THE GARY SHEET AND TIN MILL
Houses with overturned fenders in the muddy yards,
422                    Or broken Buicks, their fronts on the ground.
These are not houses for human beings to live.
Old hatreds, painted green, have become circuits breakers;
We are in the hive of the death-bee:
Death drifting in the smoke from the north,
Death in the refinery smell, and the smouldering dumps,
Death being eaten by grass, and shadows, and black children,
Death living in cabbages, and fenders, and cinder blocks,
Death with his hand over his mouth calling to the sea.