--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: So you have in Iraq some people falling…" description: "\"So you have in Iraq some people falling prey to the system, some people managing to negotiate independence, and other people becoming outlaws, and bein..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e2c/elliott-colla-15941_dying_so-you-have-in-iraq-some-people-falling_2027786.jpg" --- # So you have in Iraq some people falling prey to the… ![“So you have in Iraq some people falling prey to the system, some people managing to negotiate independence, and other people becoming outlaws, and being imprisoned and dying. You have all sorts. I don't know any other society where poetry has such a place.” quote by Elliott Colla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e2c/elliott-colla-15941_dying_so-you-have-in-iraq-some-people-falling_2027786.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e2c/elliott-colla-15941_dying_so-you-have-in-iraq-some-people-falling_2027786.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e2c/elliott-colla-15941_dying_so-you-have-in-iraq-some-people-falling_2027786.jpg) > “So you have in Iraq some people falling prey to the system, some people managing to negotiate independence, and other people becoming outlaws, and being imprisoned and dying. You have all sorts. I don't know any other society where poetry has such a place.” [Elliott Colla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-colla/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Iraq’s complex social fabric includes victims, negotiators, and outlaws, all intertwined with a deep poetic tradition. **In simple terms:** Iraq’s people face varied struggles, yet poetry remains central. Key Takeaway Recognize poetry’s role in expressing conflict. Themes conflict culture poetry politics identity Mood thoughtful poignant Type analytical observational When to use this quote - academic research - human rights advocacy - literary festivals Key Concepts social stratification resistance artistic expression Questions to Reflect On - What does poetry reveal about societal tensions? - How can art foster reconciliation? A Different Perspective Poetry may not reach all marginalized voices equally. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedom/) [Independence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/independence/) [Outlaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/outlaw/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) ## Related quotes > [It is always better to write for the whole of society than for the poetry-reading public.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-harrison/it-is-always-better-to-write-for-the-whole-of-society-than-for-the/) [Tony Harrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-harrison/) > [There can be no society without poetry, but society can never be realized as poetry, it is never poetic. Sometimes the two terms seek…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/there-can-be-no-society-without-poetry-but-society-can-never-be/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [Poetry is the one place where people can speak their original human mind. It is the outlet for people to say in public what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-ginsberg/poetry-is-the-one-place-where-people-can-speak-their-original-human/) [Allen Ginsberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allen-ginsberg/) > [Poetry ... ... a place for the genuine, Hands that can grasp, eyes that can dilate, hair that can rise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/poetry-a-place-for-the-genuine-hands-that-can-grasp-eyes-that-can/) [Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/) > [Television excites me because it seems to be the last stamping ground of poetry, the last place where I hear women's hair rhapsodically described,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-hecht/television-excites-me-because-it-seems-to-be-the-last-stamping-ground/) [Ben Hecht](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-hecht/) > [These others -- the overwhelming majority of Iraq's people -- have repeatedly given every indication of valuing their newfound freedom: voting in two elections…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fouad-ajami/these-others-the-overwhelming-majority-of-iraq-s-people-have/) Fouad Ajami > [The Iraqis have a country that inherited cultures thousands of years old while the Americans have a culture only two hundred years old. Two…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yusuf-al-qaradawi/the-iraqis-have-a-country-that-inherited-cultures-thousands-of-years/) [Yusuf al-Qaradawi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yusuf-al-qaradawi/) > [You know, if you didn't pay close attention, you'd think we were the only people in Iraq and the only people fighting the terrorists.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johnny-isakson/you-know-if-you-didn-t-pay-close-attention-you-d-think-we-were-the/) [Johnny Isakson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johnny-isakson/) > [I think the way things have been left after Iraq is that people won't believe the Government of the day, so they have to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-hague/i-think-the-way-things-have-been-left-after-iraq-is-that-people-won-t/) [William Hague](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-hague/) > [“Love is the ultimate outlaw. It just won't adhere to any rules. The most any of us can do is to sign on as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/love-is-the-ultimate-outlaw-it-just-won-t-adhere-to-any-rules-the-2/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) > ['The Outlaw Josey Wales' is one I watched again and again and again in the early days of VHS.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-mendelsohn/the-outlaw-josey-wales-is-one-i-watched-again-and-again-and-again-in/) [Ben Mendelsohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-mendelsohn/) > [If privacy is outlawed, only outlaws will have privacy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-privacy-is-outlawed-only-outlaws-will-have-privacy/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I think, generally, the flawed anti-hero is much more interesting than the normal hero, and that's really what we're talking about here as it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tod-goldberg/i-think-generally-the-flawed-anti-hero-is-much-more-interesting-than/) [Tod Goldberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tod-goldberg/) > [Today the most outlaw thing you can possibly do in Nashville, Tennessee, is play country music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marty-stuart/today-the-most-outlaw-thing-you-can-possibly-do-in-nashville/) [Marty Stuart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marty-stuart/) > [The concept of humanity is an especially useful ideological instrument of imperialist expansion, and in its ethical-humanitarian form it is a specific vehicle of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-schmitt/the-concept-of-humanity-is-an-especially-useful-ideological/) [Carl Schmitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-schmitt/) ## More by Elliott Colla > [In the Green Zone in Iraq you have your radio, you have your food, you have your own electricity, your own toilets. Everything is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-colla/in-the-green-zone-in-iraq-you-have-your-radio-you-have-your-food-you/) [Elliott Colla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-colla/) > [There are certainly times in history where power associates itself closely with fields that we would call the humanities, like rulers surrounding themselves with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-colla/there-are-certainly-times-in-history-where-power-associates-itself/) [Elliott Colla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-colla/) > [A high-ranking Syrian official in DC laughed when he heard I was reading Michel Aflaq and writing this book. He said, "Let me tell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-colla/a-high-ranking-syrian-official-in-dc-laughed-when-he-heard-i-was/) [Elliott Colla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-colla/) > [Academic writing you have to get right. Fiction you have to get plausible. And there's a world of difference.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-colla/academic-writing-you-have-to-get-right-fiction-you-have-to-get/) [Elliott Colla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-colla/) > [Noir is where the clarity of moral divisions break down, the black and whites turn into grays.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-colla/noir-is-where-the-clarity-of-moral-divisions-break-down-the-black-and/) [Elliott Colla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-colla/) > [In translation studies we talk about domestication - translation styles that make something familiar - or estrangement - translation styles that make something radically…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-colla/in-translation-studies-we-talk-about-domestication-translation-styles/) [Elliott Colla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-colla/) > [You always have regime-friendly poets like Muhammad Mahdi al-Jawahiri, whose career basically spans the twentieth century. He's an anti-imperialist, friendly with the Communists, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-colla/you-always-have-regime-friendly-poets-like-muhammad-mahdi-al-jawahiri/) [Elliott Colla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-colla/) > [Take Ezra Pound's translations of poetry from Chinese. He doesn't really know Chinese, and the very strange results that he comes up with aren't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-colla/take-ezra-pound-s-translations-of-poetry-from-chinese-he-doesn-t/) [Elliott Colla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-colla/) > [Arabs don't do crime fiction. I read crime fiction and I read Arabic literature, and I wish this was a novel I could have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-colla/arabs-don-t-do-crime-fiction-i-read-crime-fiction-and-i-read-arabic/) [Elliott Colla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-colla/) > [Michel Aflaq - is bad poetry wrapped in the guise of utopian politics, or great poetry wrapped in the guise of horrible politics.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-colla/michel-aflaq-is-bad-poetry-wrapped-in-the-guise-of-utopian-politics/) [Elliott Colla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-colla/) > [Each discipline has the capacity to be interested in politics, and each would ask different questions of what politics is, what constitutes power, how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-colla/each-discipline-has-the-capacity-to-be-interested-in-politics-and/) [Elliott Colla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-colla/) > [The more I've reflected on that and asked Iraqi friends, the more I realize that the corruption in Iraq has nothing to do with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-colla/the-more-i-ve-reflected-on-that-and-asked-iraqi-friends-the-more-i/) [Elliott Colla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-colla/) > [Culture is invited to the table usually only as raw material that needs no analysis.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-colla/culture-is-invited-to-the-table-usually-only-as-raw-material-that/) [Elliott Colla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-colla/) > [Palestinian society is filled with poetry, but not experimental poetry. The Palestinian poetry that people know is not the modernist experimentations, it's certain kinds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-colla/palestinian-society-is-filled-with-poetry-but-not-experimental-poetry/) [Elliott Colla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-colla/) > [There's actually a lot of information on a lot of people and that is a major achievement of a police state.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-colla/there-s-actually-a-lot-of-information-on-a-lot-of-people-and-that-is/) [Elliott Colla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-colla/) [Explore all 41 Elliott Colla quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-colla/) ## More Dying quotes > [“He wondered how it was fair that your dying should depend so much on when you were born.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-albom/he-wondered-how-it-was-fair-that-your-dying-should-depend-so-much-on/) [Mitch Albom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-albom/) > [Just living my life till I die...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willie-mixer/just-living-my-life-till-i-die/) Willie Mixer > [I am not a depressive person at all, but I reflect a lot on my life, and life in general, from the perspective of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alejandro-gonzalez-inarritu/i-am-not-a-depressive-person-at-all-but-i-reflect-a-lot-on-my-life/) [Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alejandro-gonzalez-inarritu/) > [I think when you’re dying you start looking for important things in the corners. You can’t let anything that seems even semi-important pass, because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-crutcher/i-think-when-you-re-dying-you-start-looking-for-important-things-in/) [Chris Crutcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-crutcher/) > [The world's history is a divine poem, of which the history of every nation is a canto, and every man a word. Its strains…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-a-garfield/the-world-s-history-is-a-divine-poem-of-which-the-history-of-every/) [James A. Garfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-a-garfield/) > [I don't want to just die a normal death, I wanna be killed twice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eminem/i-don-t-want-to-just-die-a-normal-death-i-wanna-be-killed-twice/) [Eminem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eminem/) > [Poor David Hume is dying fast, but with more real cheerfulness and good humor and with more real resignation to the necessary course of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-smith/poor-david-hume-is-dying-fast-but-with-more-real-cheerfulness-and/) [Adam Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-smith/) > [Got to say, dying would really wreck my best day. Been there, done that, and now that I think about it, Artemis forgot to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sherrilyn-kenyon/got-to-say-dying-would-really-wreck-my-best-day-been-there-done-that/) [Sherrilyn Kenyon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sherrilyn-kenyon/) > [“There is more to living than not dying.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/there-is-more-to-living-than-not-dying/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [I want people to think they can't die until they see me play.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ricky-williams/i-want-people-to-think-they-can-t-die-until-they-see-me-play/) [Ricky Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ricky-williams/) > [... there are far, far worse things in the living world than dying.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-k-rowling-2/there-are-far-far-worse-things-in-the-living-world-than-dying/) [J. K. Rowling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-k-rowling-2/) > [Life has no guarantees, though. What good is living if all you think about is dying?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tracey-garvis-graves/life-has-no-guarantees-though-what-good-is-living-if-all-you-think/) [Tracey Garvis-Graves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tracey-garvis-graves/) > [“And if you can’t say yes, answer anyway. Because I’d rather live with the answer than die with the question.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-ellis/and-if-you-can-t-say-yes-answer-anyway-because-i-d-rather-live-with/) Jon Ellis > [If you feel like you want to die, it's time to sit down and make a list of all the things you haven't done…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deacon-jones/if-you-feel-like-you-want-to-die-it-s-time-to-sit-down-and-make-a/) [Deacon Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deacon-jones/) > [Lord, send Your life throughout the entire church. Visit Your church; restore sound doctrine and holy, earnest living. Take away from professing Christians their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-spurgeon/lord-send-your-life-throughout-the-entire-church-visit-your-church/) [Charles Spurgeon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-spurgeon/) Browse all 6,374 Dying quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "So you have in Iraq some people falling prey to the system, some people managing to negotiate independence, and other people becoming outlaws, and being imprisoned and dying. You have all sorts. 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