2010 Interpreting War
Working with Artist-in-Residence Nina Berman, YI Writers began the semester developing their own definitions of war, whether it involved conflicts between nations, battles between human beings and nature, or opponents in a board game. Through a generous consignment by Nikon, Inc., YI Writers learned photographic skills on Nikon D5000 digital SLR cameras, and used them to capture and convey their own interpretations of war.
War
War is a murderer
It kills your love and your hope
And gives you enough rope to hang yourself
It destroys you mentally and physically
You’ll lose your sense of power, and control
You won’t even see it happening,
But you’ll never come out whole
You won’t really remember who you are
But you’ll remember what happened
Because of the internal and external scars.
In war we can only lose and never gain
In the end all we have is suffering and pain
A broken dream and a broken heart
A broken family and friends torn apart
We we’re allies, sister and brothers
We had one disagreement and then we started killing each other
The people we call friends, they’re at war and dying
Their families and our families, we’re all crying
Because we want someone to blame for the war taking place
For our countries that were once prosperous now going to waste.
Two friends may have left together each leaving behind a home
But after the war only one came back and they came back alone
Another friend went to war but didn’t come back in one piece
Broken up and bruised in many ways
That’s why we need to strive for peace!
In times like these we need some one to turn to
We need a hero, strong and brave
One who will lead us to peace and not to our graves
We need someone to protect us
To keep us out of harm’s way
To stop the wars
So we can live to see a better day.
