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WHAT:  Encounters with the Iraqi People -- a multimedia presentation
WHO:  David Smith-Ferri, author of Battlefield without Borders: Iraq Poems
WHEN:  Friday, February 29, 2008 -- 7:00 p.m.
WHERE:  King's Books, 218 St. Helens Ave., Tacoma, WA

Contact: David Smith-Ferri (707) 467-0468; smithferri@pacific.net

Activist poet David Smith-Ferri, whose newly released book, Battlefield without Borders: Iraq Poems (Haley’s Publishing, 2007), portrays his encounters with the Iraqi people and the events that have shaped their lives over the last eight years will appear at King’s Books, 218 St. Helens Ave., Tacoma on Friday, February 29th at 7:00 p.m. He will be giving a multimedia presentation, with poetry and slideshow from trips to Iraq and Jordan. Through poetry, stories, and slides, Smith-Ferri will attempt to bring the people he has met into our presence. Against a background of facts and analysis about conditions in Iraq and in Jordan, this presentation will focus on both the human cost of the invasion/occupation and the effort by Iraqi people to resist its traumatic effects. “I hope to portray the resilience, courage, and decency of the Iraqi people I’ve met,” Smith-Ferri says. “Everyday, Iraqi people -- in Iraq and in exile -- resist the degrading effects of violence and occupation, doing everything they can to care for themselves, their families, and their neighbors, and to provide a future for their children.”

Smith-Ferri wrote many of the poems from his book, Battlefield without Borders, in the Middle East:  in Iraq during two visits to the country, and recently in Amman, Jordan. Smith-Ferri writes in language that is accessible and powerful, and in a voice that is grounded in his experience. His poems are both a reflection on that experience and an attempt to voice the longings and the perspective of people caught in the vortex of war -- Iraqi people, the families of U.S. soldiers, et al. The first edition of the book, released in February, 2007, sold out in four months. A second edition of the book -- with a new Foreword and twelve new poems -- was published in October. These new poems focus on encounters with Iraqi people who have fled violence in Iraq and are seeking a place and a way to rebuild their lives. Smith-Ferri, who has read his poetry at events across the country, recently returned from a two-and-a-half-week book tour in New England and New York.

Three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee Kathy Kelly has written a beautiful foreword to Smith-Ferri's book. She writes, “Mesmerized by the images David paints so tenderly and skillfully, we follow him onto the battlefield. We enter arenas populated by children, parents, teenagers -- people similar to ourselves. What can the poet do to bring about a cease-fire, a truce, a broad and deepening belief in mercy? This poet brings the children to our very doors. Children 'without shadows,' children forbidden life, children who survive with utterly precarious futures . . . David persuades us that our hands must be open to these children and their parents. Can we be gripped by these images and then settle into complacency? The poems strip us of innocence. Reading them, we want to feel the hands that have taken David’s hand, to hear the voices that say Tfaddl ('Come in'), welcoming him into their homes. We want the battle to end.”

All proceeds from the sale of his book (all but $2.00 of the sale price) will go directly to Iraqi victims of this war, through a new program called the Direct Aid Initiative. For more information, including brief portraits of the families we are assisting, visit www.battlefieldwithoutborders.org or e-mail the author at smithferri@pacific.net.

Smith-Ferri has recently returned from Amman, Jordan where he met with Iraqi refugees (Muslim, Kurdish, and Christian), Iraqi and international NGO staff, Jordanian nationals, et al. The trip was full of rich encounters, including several meetings with an Iraqi surgeon who spoke plainly of the challenges and perils facing health care professionals and hospital patients in Iraq, and an Iraqi physicist who spoke about the targeting of academics and professionals. He spent much of his time visiting and talking with ordinary Iraqis who were forced to flee their homes and their livelihood because of death threats. He has developed a presentation which includes a slide show, report from his trips, and images of some of the people being supported by the Direct Aid Initiative, as well as a reading of selected poems.

Smith-Ferri will describe a new program of assistance to Iraqi refugees who live in Jordan and Syria. Called the Direct Aid Initiative (DAI), this program is a collaboration with Iraqi people who have fled the violence in their country and now live in increasing numbers in Amman and Damascus. By providing assistance for urgent medical needs, DAI seeks to support the efforts that Iraqis are already making to rebuild their lives. It is an act of friendship and justice, rather than of charity. Recognizing that it is Iraqis who will one day rebuild their country, DAI seeks to model and enact the kind of relationships that could strengthen and amplify their capacity to do so. DAI makes ongoing commitments of support to Iraqi individuals and families to assist with their urgent medical needs, and to help build their capacity to support themselves. The “ongoing” nature of the commitment is a crucial feature. Among the stories coming out of this war, it is not uncommon to hear about an Iraqi family who found a way to raise funds for emergency surgery, but who couldn’t afford the ongoing aftercare. As a result, the benefits of the surgery were lost.