Golden Bay Live Poets host a special event at the Mussel Inn, Onekaka, on Tuesday 12 December, 7.45 pm. As the main feature, Mark Raffills will be performing Mark Twain’s prose poem ‘The War Prayer’.

‘The War Prayer’ is a scathing indictment of war, and particularly of blind patriotic and religious fervour as motivations for war. When Twain’s publisher rejected the piece as being sacrilegious, the author said: ‘I have told the whole truth in that [poem] and only dead men can tell the truth in this world. It can be published after I am dead.’ It was written in 1905 but not published until 1923, well after Twain’s death in 1910.

The evening will include music from local artists Lisa Williams and Leigh Strange, plus Kapiti Coast musician Phill Simmonds. They will perform some classic songs including Bob Dylan’s ‘With God on Our Side’, Buffy Saint Marie’s ‘Universal Soldier’, Graham Nash’s ‘Military Madness’ and John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’. The artists will also present original songs, while Raffills will deliver a couple of his own poems. Simmonds has created the projection that will feature behind ‘The War Prayer’ poem. Tickets $10 at the door. For more information contact Rose at thewritingforest@gmail.com