Drones have an image problem. The Obama administration has tarnished their reputation with the deadly drone wars in Pakistan and Yemen, which have racked up untold civilian deaths. An NBC News investigation revealed this month that the CIA didn’t always know who they were killing when they launched their drone strikes remotely. The report found that the U.S. used drones to execute people on a “circumstantial basis.” The FBI also recently admitted to using surveillance drones on U.S. soil.
But drones have also made headlines for less dire causes. This month, Domino’s tested out some drones for pizza delivery. A London-based sushi restaurant and two burrito enthusiasts/engineers have also utilized drone technology for food delivery. Drones can be used to search for missing persons or to protect endangered species and wildlife. Now one L.A.-based poet wants to use drones for a literary cause. David Shook, also a translator and filmaker, wants to create the world’s first Poetry Drone. From the LA Times:
“The Poetry Drone is exactly that: a drone for the deployment of specially commissioned poems by leading US and world poets, which aim to bring the US military’s covert drone operations into the spotlight,” Shook writes in a statement he calls “Beating Drones into Plowshares.” The larger aim, he says, is to promote discussion about drone warfare and “to humanize their victims, and to explore the political responsibility of poets, artists, and citizens.”
The drone will drop “poem-bombs” from the sky and tour literary and arts events all over the globe; all the poems will be compiled in a Poetry Drone Anthology. Shook will also be producing a short documentary to chronicle the process. He’s funding the entire project on Kickstarter.
This project is part of GOOD’s Saturday series Push for Good—our guide to crowdfunding creative progress.
