War & Poetry

Marcel Marion soldier (2).jpg

"I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.” [Today, we’d say sons and daughters.]
― John Adams, “Letters of John Adams,” addressed to his wife, Abigail Adams, 1780

Photo mash-up by Joe Marion with Marcel Marion, US Army, fighting the fascists, 1945, and me, reading the poem I was commissioned to write for the Sesquicentennial Celebration in Lowell, Mass., 1986.