The Writing Artist- Kurt Vonnegut

Today’s writing artist pick is Kurt Vonnegut. He was an American writer and artist best known for his books Cat’s Cradle, The Slaughterhouse Five and Breakfast of Champions. The Slaughterhouse Five was inspired during his time as a prisoner of war in World War II in which he was held in a German compound of the same name. His interest in anthropology and his experiences in the army are said to be highly influential in his writing. Below is his poem Requiem.

Requiem

The crucified planet Earth,

should it find a voice

and a sense of irony,

might now well say

of our abuse of it,

“Forgive them, Father,

They know not what they do.”

The irony would be

that we know what

we are doing.

When the last living thing

has died on account of us,

how poetical it would be

if Earth could say,

in a voice floating up

perhaps

from the floor

of the Grand Canyon

“It is done.”

People did not like it here.

- Kurt Vonnegut

~ Nia Andino ~