15. It is Dangerous…, by Margaret Atwood

Many people don’t realise that Margaret Atwood is an accomplished poet as well as a novelist. I find some of her poems compelling, suggesting an alternative reality. See what you make of this one. Is it dangerous to read newspapers? Here’s how it ends:

Each time I hit a key
on my electric typewriter,
speaking of peaceful trees
another village explodes.

Margaret Atwood


‘It is dangerous to read newspapers’ was published in 1968.