The poet and the cage” “

There are 158 Taliban prisoners in “X-ray” camp in the American base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. According to various sources in the press, the prisoners are being detained in cramped metal cages. They are dressed in orange prison overalls, blindfolded, gagged and with their head covered by deafening earphones. It has been reported that they have been provided only with two towels, one for washing and the other as a prayer-mat, the basic necessities for hygiene and a copy of the Koran. They are reportedly authorized to leave their constantly illuminated cages for only 15 minutes each day. The conditions in which they are being held have aroused the protests of various humanitarian associations. The case closely recalls that of Ezra Pound, the American poet, who died in Venice in 1972: Pound was arrested for high treason by American troops in May 1945; he was taken to the “Disciplinary Training Center” at Pisa and kept in solitary confinement for three weeks in a steel cage, exposed to the sun by day and to the flood-lights by night. During his imprisonment Pound wrote “The Pisan Cantos”. We asked Pound’s daughter, the writer Mary De Rachewiltz , to recall that experience in the light of more recent events. What do you feel when you see Taliban prisoners being held in the same kind of metal cages as that in which your father was once detained? “I feel terrible anguish to see the cages of the Taliban, the cruel barbed wire and even the prison guards, who strike fear. They too are human beings. And yet they seem like cruel robots, transformed into instruments of revenge. I am reminded of verses written by my father in the cage at Pisa: ‘Whoever has spent a month in the death cells no longer believes in capital punishment. Whoever has passed a month in the death cells will not admit cages for wild animals'”. The experience of the cage characterized, even in literary terms, the life of your father and his family. How do you remember that period? “The experience of the cage led my father to recognize true charity, which he found even in those who had flouted the rules. Even in old age he regretted not having always practised it himself, since it alone can bring serenity and peace. At the end of the Cantos he invoked compassion and love: ‘Oh God of all men, no one excluded’. Violence, even verbal violence, is harmful. But even if dismayed by what had happened, he never stopped seeking the causes of wars”. How is it possible that methods of detention like this can still exist today? “Humanitarian conventions alone are not enough. More education at the roots is needed. There is too much complacency towards the big monopolies. There’s the greed of the powerful, avid to increase the riches of the rich peoples and the poverty of the poor. The words of the poets, that move especially those of us who feel a sense of impotence, are not enough. We have a need for generous men, men well prepared to solve the economic questions, and not stock exchange experts”. The Pope affirms that there can be no peace without justice and forgiveness. What value do these words have for you, in the light of your experience? “In the Pope’s words, in his appeals for peace and social justice, I hear echoes of Dante and Pound, I recognize the voice not only of a great Pope but also of the poet’s impulse to the spiritual sense that expresses transcendent values “. May moments like those of Assisi contribute to peace and the defence of human rights? “I was especially struck by the final comment of the Pope, the spontaneous reference to the wind. ‘Let the wind speak/ What is Paradise’ is one of the last verses written by my father who in his earthly paradise drew man’s attention especially to the beauties of nature and of language. Brute force is spreading not only among men, but has also been extended to nature that has a need for loving care and for silence. The Pope’s powerful appeal to prayer as the last resort remains. And I cannot but cite once again my father’s verse ‘Pray, Pray, there is the power’, emphasized by the Chinese ideogram denoting respect”. Daniele Rocchi