San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Senator’s one-man war on poetry
Tommy Tuberville’s crusade against “wokeness” in the military recently took a literary turn when the football coach turned senator bashed the notion of reading poetry on aircraft carriers.
During a Sept. 6 television interview, the Alabama Republican said, “There’s no second place in war, we have to have the best.”
He’s right, of course, but he continued, “Right now, we are so ‘woke’ in the military, we’re losing recruits right and left.”
The senator then lashed out against Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro.
He “needs to get to building ships, he needs to get to recruiting, and he needs to get ‘wokeness’ out of our Navy,” Tuberville said. “We’ve got people doing poems on aircraft carriers over the loudspeaker.”
Yes, you read that correctly. People are doing poems. On aircraft carriers. Over the loudspeaker. And with a crew of about 4,500, there should be no surprise that some members are interested in poetry. Turns out kids these days will “do poems” anywhere.
The ex-coach’s poetry protest shows the flawed thinking behind the myth of “wokeness” in the military, which led to his one-man blockade of military promotions.
Tuberville’s solo hold on Senate
approvals for the promotions of more than 300 generals has mucked up Defense Department plans, caused hardships for military families trying to move, delayed retirements and, according to some, hurt military readiness.
The coach disagrees with Pentagon policies about service members’ access to reproductive health care. He opposes administrative absences and travel allowances for troops forced to travel to other states for care, including abortions, in the aftermath of the Dobbs decision. There’s much to say about all that, but this column is about poetry.
The senator’s alarm about art on warships sounded like a past generation’s warnings about a new trend. Something like 1950sera parents cautioning kids against the dangers of rock ’n’ roll or Elvis’ dancing. Except Tuberville is concerned about poetry, one of humanity’s oldest forms of communication.
Tuberville didn’t say whether this was an isolated poetry incident or some sort of growing menace to society.
However, he did have a run-in with the Adm. Michael Gilday, chief of naval operations, in
April after the senator attacked a junior officer over comments about an LGBTQ poetry night on the USS Gerald R. Ford. Gilday said he was “particularly proud” of the officer who had volunteered for the deployment.
There’s also much to say about senators picking on people serving in the armed forces (also looking at you, Ted Cruz), but this column is about poetry.
It’s unclear what aspect of ship poetry offends Tuberville. The idea of military people writing or reading poems? The identities and beliefs of those involved? The ideas and words themselves? Smart money is on the last two.
Imagine if Tuberville knew about all the poetry people discuss at the nation’s military learning institutions.
Tuberville’s latest rant against words fired up artists, scholars and readers who responded online with facts about the long history and connections between poetry, people, violence and war. If nothing else, it started a lively discussion about the intersections of art and the military.
Maybe Tuberville missed some English classes. Perhaps he never learned about the “Odyssey,” “Iliad” or “Beowulf ” and how, over the long haul of history, poetry survives.
Maybe he forgot that in 1814 Francis Scott Key wrote a poem on a boat in Baltimore Harbor that became the national anthem. Or that Teddy Roosevelt wrote poetry.
Tuberville should read some of the World War I soldier poets. Check out Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est” or Siegfried Sassoon’s words about trench warfare that echo today in Ukraine.
Or maybe Randall Jarrell’s “Death of the Ball Turret Gunner.” The Army Air Force vet captured the brutality of World War II with a single line: “When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.”
People have been “doing poetry” around the globe through war and peace for centuries.
Rolando Hinojosa-Smith and William Childress were among those who left poems about the Korean war. Yusef Komunyakaa, W.D. Ehrhart, John Balaban and many others revealed hard realities about Vietnam.
Brian Turner’s “Here, Bullet” speaks more truth about the Iraq war than a pile of press releases or official statements.
Ultimately, good poetry is truth and power. Maybe that’s what scares Tuberville and others who attack military people over their expressions of humanity.
The senator’s game is far more distracting and dangerous for the military than “doing poetry.”