In 17 syllables, would-be poets try to help out Colin Powell

To Sam Hamill, a poet and publisher in Port Townsend, Wash., an invitation to a White House poetry symposium earlier this month looked like a clear opportunity for mixing politics and verse. (His e-mail rallying cry rounded up thousands of antiwar poems and led to the quick cancellation of the White House event.)

Political satirist Neal Pollack sized up the latest poets/politics/war nexus and, tongue in cheek, responded from the blog on his Web site (www.nealpollack.com). “Part of me wanted to say, do nothing,” he wrote. “Ignore them. Allow them to founder on the wrong side of history. Let them write pandering verse about the evil SUV while terrorists plot their demise. But then I realized I couldn’t do that.” Instead, he urged his readers to “send me pro-war haiku to counter the left-wing insurgence of the academy.” And so they did, after a fashion.

A sampling of the haiku-heavy responses:

Untreated arm in

Mosquito aquarium.

Rockets to Baghdad!

-- Howard Peirce

*

Our missiles strike fear

Unfailing sense of purpose

Join the winning team.

-- James McIntyre

*

Victory is ours

To the victor go the spoils

Gas prices plummet.

-- Garrett Kyle

*

Teaspoon o’ Anthrax

Where, oh where are you hiding?

Smart bomb will find you.

-- Dan Armstrong