Since being crowned the “Queen of Folk” in the early 1960s, Joan Baez has consistently used her voice to advance the causes dear to her heart. In 1963, she sang with Bob Dylan at the March on Washington from the podium where Martin Luther King Jr delivered his “I have a dream” speech, and ever since she has been unwavering in her support for issues including civil rights and environmentalism.
Last year, Baez published her first book of poetry, When You See My Mother, Ask Her to Dance, a deeply personal collection of verse that reckoned with her upbringing, her struggles with depression and her musical peers, including Dylan and Jimi Hendrix. In the months since, she has continued to write, finding herself drawn once more to speak out about the most pressing political issues of the day.
In this new poem, published for the first time by The Independent, she turns her attention to America’s political leadership and ponders her own lifelong dedication to a philosophy of pacifism:
Cranberry Sauce
As a pacifist, do I have to love everyone?
Do I have to love the
psychos who are running the country?
I hope not.
Am I allowed my
fantasies
so long as I don’t hurt anyone?
Not to worry,
these guys and gals are
immune to pain!
Though I have heard
some of them are sensitive
to ridicule.
So when I say I’d like to see them all dead
at their Thanksgiving dinners,
face down in the cranberry sauce . . .
well, I can dream, can’t I?
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