Fashion With The Past Poem by gershon hepner

Fashion with the past a peace,
to the future don’t surrender,
present is where you should lease
time and be a careful spender.

Julie Salomon writes about Norman Mailer, who will soon turn 80 (Old Brawler Won’t Grapple With History”) and Michiko Kakutani reviews Norman Mailer’s new book, “The Spooky Art” (Random House) in the NYT, January 22,2003. Kakutani writes:

He whines that “only another writer can know how much damage writing can do to you, ” and self-importantly declares that “writers must fashion a new peace with the past every day they attempt to write.” Regarding Iraq, he says to Julie Salomon: “It doesn’t matter what they’re up to in Iraq. It doesn’t matter if they have nuclear bombs or not or whether they’re ready to do chemical warfare. They’re not a danger, but they’re absolutely a position in the world that we need militarily. Dominate Iraq, dominate the Near East, and then get China in a position to make China the Greece to our Rome.” Makes a lot of sense to me, except when he says, “They’re not a danger”.

1/22/03