Welcome
Welcome to In Arms, a project that expresses the experience of serving in Canada’s military through poetry. We are seeking the words of forces personnel and their families, to create website and a performance that speaks to the country and the world.
Submissions close October 18, 2010
Wow! Thanks to EVERYONE who sent in poems for the Poem of the Week! The response has been excellent, and we've received tons of positive feedback. Sorry to be party-poopers, but submissions for the poem of the week will close on October 18, 2010. We'll continue publishing your poems until the New Year. Thanks again!
Media
- CBC Radio interview with Suzanne Steele · June 29, 2010
- Edmonton Journal article on the InArms project · June 29, 2010
Participate
In Arms is a multi-faceted project that invites contributions from Canadian Forces personnel, their families and friends. You don't have to be a master poet or writer to contribute - you just have to be willing to tell your story in words.
We will feature some of your work on this website, and some of the work will make it into the print portion of the project - a chapbook (short book of poetry) to be published in late 2010. There's also a live performance scheduled for November 2010 which will feature work written by you, delivered by a few of Edmonton's finest poets.
Think you can’t write poetry? That it’s difficult or hard? Poems come in as many different shapes, sizes and forms as people do. All of them are equally valid. Some are traditional and rhymed, but they don’t have to be. All you are trying to do is to say something that matters to you in an interesting way, so it connects with others.
For some classic poems about soldiering, check out:
This was my brother at Dieppe – by Mona Gould
The Soldier - by Rupert Brooke
Oh Captain, My Captain – by Walt Whitman
Dulce et Decorum Est – by Wilfrid Owen
For more, poems, check out the War Poetry website.
Poem of the Week
A Soldier
December 27, 2010
A soldier’s strength comes not from might and power,
but from his heart
A soldier’s shoulders carry not just his ruck,
but the weight of his country’s beliefs
A soldier’s helmet and armor protect his vitals,
but his eyes are not shielded from the horrors he sees
A soldier’s boots can be discarded when warn through,
but the steps they’ve taken can not
A soldier“s strongest weapon is not his rifle,
but the love and support of family, friends, and country
About the Poem of the Week
Each week a different poem is featured on In Arms. The poems are collected from Canadian Forces personnel, their families, and friends. They are published here with full permission from the authors.
