Wildflowers for the Bullies

In Wildflowers for the Bullies, Rothenberg takes energetic poetic aim at some of the most glaring political issues of the day, including racism, economic injustice, police brutality, and our overly commercialized culture industry with its "zombie billboards" and "sponsored straightjackets." In his deeply moving poem, "War," Rothenberg uses varied and inventively phrased perspectives ("We imagine the shark a killing machine / We become the killing machine") to note how thoroughly the idea of war has infiltrated Americans' daily lives, offering "love as the answer."