Poems by Children

As my exploration of poetry as peacemaking continues, I find that not only do different poets have their own specific focuses stemming from cultural experience--Naomi Shihab Nye and her Palestinian-American heritage, William Stafford and WWI, Christian Peacemaking Team members in Columbia-- but age itself also makes its mark on poetry. Sure, sure, you may be thinking, "Well, of course. Children are not self-aware, or culturally aware, or linguistically aware enough to write poems like adults do, just quality-wise." To think that, my friends, could be one of the biggest mistakes in human history. Not joking.

Granted, children may not have many years under their metaphorical belts (although they may be able to come up with a less over-used idiom than I just used), but what they lack in quantity they often make up for in clarity. I will not go off on theory or mechanics; my young poet friends do not. Please, read this poem found in A Chance To Live: Children's Poems for Peace in a Nuclear Age, edited by Gayle Peterson and Ying Kelley. And listen to children.

Please Don't Kill

Please don't kill
Other people
In a war
'Cause God made people
to live.


~Daryl Williams
2nd Grade