Skip to Content

The Living Need a Poem

By Saul Landau

The Cold War is over
why aren't we having fun
I have destroyed my internal Timex
kicked an innocent dog
stiffed four ratty beggars
my team has triumphed over
the incarnation of wickedness
I etch acrid sarcasm
on a child's mind
can I pull a poem from shrapnel
fashion words of beauty
from shrill shrieks of falling bombs
submerge the laments of those
with investments
in times of need
the living need a poem
Added: Monday, July 14, 2014  /  From "My Dad Was Not Hamlet" (Inst. for Policy Studies, 1993). Used with permission.
Saul Landau

Saul Landau (1936-2013) was an internationally known scholar, author, commentator, and filmmaker on foreign and domestic policy issues. He was a fellow at IPS from 1972 and at the Transnational Institute from 1974 until his passing. He wrote 13 books, thousands of newspaper and magazine articles and reviews, and made more than 40 films and TV programs on social, political, economic and historical issues.

Among his numerous accolades, Saul received the George Polk Award for Investigative Reporting and an Emmy for his 1980 film, "Paul Jacobs and the Nuclear Gang" (with Jack Willis), as well as the Letelier-Moffitt Award for his human rights work. He won a Golden Apple award for "The Sixth Sun: Mayan Uprising in Chiapas" as well as first prizes in many festivals with films about Fidel Castro, Salvador Allende and Subcomandante Marcos. He is Professor Emeritus at Cal Poly Pomona University. 

Saul's last film is "Will the Real Terrorist Please Standup" (2011). It is now available on DVD.

Other poems by this author

Back to top