[Peace-discuss] re: used to say

[John W.]

At 06:29 AM 3/31/2008, E. Wayne Johnson wrote:

>It's poetry, and poetry, as art, is often evocative.  Poetry as art uses 
>all sorts of freedoms to express and evoke.
>
>imho, "used to say" in the mildly colloquial sense here indicates long 
>time employment in a sense of homespun wisdom and familarity in use, as in 
>"what mama/grandma used to say".
>
>I really like this poem because for me expresses/evokes the idea that 
>every stranger is a co-sourjner,  potentially a un-met friend, with the 
>same needs for fellowship, food, shelter as me, and the same appreciation 
>for a hospitable understanding of his human condition as I have.  I also 
>like the idea that true security comes from inside one's self. 'I am 
>comfortable with my existence, so I can risk loving my fellow human being'.


Cool.  I'm sure most of us agree with your sentiments, your interpretation 
of the poem.  So why not change it to, "The Arabs say..." or "Muslims 
say..." or "The Koran says..." ?



>>The Arabs used to say,
>>When a stranger appears at your door,
>>feed him for three days
>>before asking who he is,
>>where he's come from,
>>where he's headed.
>>That way, he'll have strength
>>enough to answer.
>>Or, by then you'll be such good friends
>>you don't care.
>
>
>
>And of course there is the added surprise that it is coming from the 
>A-rabs, who are ain't nothin' like us  For some, Arab brings up images of 
>"islamofascism".
>
>(which is, of course, fundamentally inferior to Amerofascism, which is 
>good for you and that the whole world seems to need.)
>
>Message: 5
>Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2008 22:22:58 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Jenifer Cartwright <jencart13 at yahoo.com>
>Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] an anti-bias poster for the CUMTD buses?
>    P S
>To: Stuart Levy <slevy at ncsa.uiuc.edu>
>Cc: peace-discuss at anti-war.net, Stuart Levy <slevy at ncsa.uiuc.edu>
>Message-ID: <759007.15656.qm at web44912.mail.sp1.yahoo.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
>If y're all taken w/ the poem, maybe the poet would permit deletion of 
>"used" for this purpose (btw, WHY did she say, "used to say"... Do they no 
>longer say it???)
>   --Jenifer
>
>Stuart Levy <slevy at ncsa.uiuc.edu> wrote:
>  On Sun, Mar 30, 2008 at 05:18:06PM -0700, Jenifer Cartwright wrote:
> > > "The Arabs USED to say"... and what do they say NOW? And I know it's 
> metaphor
> > > and that we don't REALLY advocate feeding anyone for three days w/o 
> getting
> > > some background info..