“The South China Sea” is excerpted from the book The Boxer of Quirinal (Red Hen Press, 2023) by John Barr, which is available for purchase on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and in independent bookstores.
All animals struggle to survive. In John Barr’s poems the success of the heron hunting, the albatross breeding, the inchworm spinning give proof of life. But for us that struggle includes the eternal presence of war. Does the fall of Rome, the Battle of Shiloh, the Normandy Landings––and today’s wars—give proof of life or only of the struggle?
Written by John Barr
Directed by Colby Devitt
Editor: Brian Emery
Sound Editing: Brian Emery
Narrator: John Barr
Colonel Gee: Robin McConnell