Today in class, we listened to one of Suheir Hammad's incredible poems. While the entirety of her presentation was very inspiring, a few lines in particular stuck out to me. First off, there was the line"I will not dance to your war drum". This signifies that despite the government's propaganda, their lies and their trickery, despite all of the things that they say, she will not give in to it all and support the violence.
Next, she says "I will not hate for you, nor will I hate you", which shows that her choice is not binary. Just because she does not support her country's decision to go to war, she will not turn her back on it either. The last interesting line here is, "We cherish corpses". Here, she is deconstructing the concept of martyrs, saying that they have been so overblown with importance, so infused with sacredness, that in some cases a dead boy is valued more than one who is still living.
Suheir Hammad & Marjane Satrapi both have very similar opinions on war. Both parties wish to stay away from violence, war, and overblown nationalism and stay relatively neutral within their boundaries. Despite this, they still love their country, and do want to remain supportive of its non-repressive endeavors. They despise how the martyrs are treated, and how all who oppose the country are considered enemies of the war and executed. All in all, both Suheir & Marjane do not wish to get wrapped up in the crazy political turmoil their country has created.
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