To the Editor,

I am a Macalester graduate, Class of '77. I have written poems about the possibility of US invasion of Iraq.

I would like to submit one of my poems which I recently entitled "First Child" for publication in your paper. I think it would be appropriate considering the timely nature of the poem.

First Child

by Mary Nordquist Stetson
 

The inevitability of war

Makes me wonder;

who is the first child

Who will die?
 

How old? How young?

Does she have a name?

Are his parents alive?
 

Would she be an artist,

Would she dance,

Would he marry,

Would he have a family
 

If not for war?
 

Would he be healthy

And live a long life?

Would she laugh?

Would he cry?
 

Could we consider what

Madness is being proposed,

Framed neatly into portraits

Of false sanity?
 

Mary Norquist Stetson'77

Milwaukee, WI

stetsonmary@hotmail.com