Navigation – in these uncertain times, A Book of Poetry by Michael Eckhardt Sr., just released by the Free Press/CICJ Books, is a compilation of free verse and haiku that will move and inspire the Free Press reader. Many of Michael’s poems frankly express Michael’s avowed radical political views on war and society’s numerous flaws including police brutality, injustice, apathy and much more.
The sentiments in this poem detail horrors that could describe any war, but are particularly relevant to the Gaza conflict today, titled “odds are.”
odd, the bombs which fall
are ordered, built and dropped
by those, once children
they have lived lives to date
with complete absence of contrition
the same odds and laws of probabilities
apply to those children about to hit
but their choices cut short
no chance to decide
how to live or which course to take
who can figure such odds.
Michael describes his book this way: “Thought provoking poems in our unique times as a new administration appears to be changing our established role in domestic and world geopolitics. Therein are poems that can serve as coping mechanisms, those that can illuminate political polemics, those that can just make us smile or laugh. Those that can inspire us into action. There are images that can send us to more peaceful spaces.”
Central Ohio and national activists know Michael as a Free Press writer and a long-time advocate for Native American Leonard Peltier, recently released from federal prison after the infamous incident at Oglala. The Free Press honored Michael as a Free Press Hero for his dedication to the cause. There's a definite theme in the poetry conveying indigenous peoples’ perspective. In the poem “american extermination hypocrisy” a middle passage reads:
the civil wars of others
exemplify horror beyond belief
incomprehensible losses of life and land
brutal murders of many
executions of the leaders
all falling prey to the state
our own genocide...
committed on our own soil
left to us alone to decide
and complete with similar results
the memories left by the victor
all but lost to a most horrible
accounting of an altered history
or a most selective case of amnesia
our own ethnic cleansing nearly complete
still winding down but
quite positively current policy
we are now fed by the media
attempting to justify
our most recent aggression
tugging on our heart strings
we are informed of
vicious large scale massacres
whole villages destroyed
women raped
crops blackened
cultural songs and language forbidden
countless refugees
records of existence deleted...
Michael’s love of, and respect for the environment is evident throughout the book. As an outdoorsman, hiker, and fly-fisherman his poetry is inspired by nature and its mystery. However, the verses often voice his dismay about ecological destruction. In “landscaping II,” it begins:
our mother cries out
as each shovel hits the ground
on the black mesa
all mothers...
past, present and future
will cry out
from this brutal rape…
More poems and haiku are anecdotes and personal impressions of daily life and relationships. The book’s artwork also belongs to Michael. A wolf greets you on the book’s cover, sketches of places Michael has visited are scattered throughout the pages, while a regal hawk perches on the back cover. The Free Press' and Michael’s hopes for the effect of his book are: “The poems and images are offered to inspire others to write or draw, and just might lead to sustainable outcomes during these uncertain times to fend off populism, fascism, oligarchy. Democracy is currently and squarely in the balance.”
How to buy the book
Purchase Navigation – in these uncertain times, A Book of Poetry by Michael Eckhardt Sr., from the Free Press Store at https://freepress.org/store for $15.00. Or mail a check made out to “CICJ Books” to Navigation, CICJ Books, 1021 E. Broad St., Columbus OH 43205.
