Poetry of Witness

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We were asked to respond to, two poems that we reacted to in some way. I can't say I was able to personally relate to any of the poems we were asked to read, however there were several poems that shocked me or I had some feeling towards when I was done reading them.

The first poem I chose was one that surprised me. It turned out to be about something completely different then what I had originally envisioned. The poem I am talking about it titled, "Immigrants in Our Own Land" by Jimmy Santiago Baca. Part of my misconception may be due in part to the title. After reading the title I assumed that I would be reading a poem about immigration from a foreign country. The way the writer describes the process of arriving to the new world, "We take Tests. Some of us were craftsman in the old world, good with our hands and proud of our work"(Baca lines 9-11). This passage here depicts to me what it might be like for an immigrant just arriving to the United States. I believe the author's intent was to mislead his readers at first

The point at which the writer really caught my attention was on line 42 where he writes, " My cell is crisscrossed by laundry lines"(Baca Line 42-43). At first I was hit with a sense of confusion, but as I read I realized he wasn't talking about immigration into a country I believed he was talk about prison. I just thought it was so fantastic how he made that connection. He had all his readers thinking one thing but then adds a twist.

    Image Source: http://barkeryear10vietnam.pbworks.com/w/page/11427576/Legacy-of-the-War

The other poem that caught my attention is again not because of any personal experience but did get me thinking. This poem is title, "Songs of Napalm" by Bruce Weigl. Even though most of us today were not in Vietnam, and not many people I know were even around during that time, we can still feel for the veterans in that war. After reading this you can get an understanding of how traumatic it was for those of that were there. What was seen by the soldiers of that war will not soon be forgotten. This poem shows how even the calmest of things such as a thunderstorm can bring back the worst of memories.

A good example of this is in line 21 where the author writes, "But still the branches are wire and the thunder is pounding mortar"(Weigl Line 21). You can see from this example that these former soldiers can't escape from their horrible memories. I have several friends that are in the service right now, and I pray that none of my friends come home with painful memories like the ones this poem represents.

If you would like to read more about the Vietnam War please go to http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/modules/vietnam/index.cfm
I found some interesting things on this website.

Works Cited:

Jimmy Santiago Baca."Immigrants in Our Land", Archaeology of the Cirlce 1990
Website: http://www.ndpublishing.com/.

Bruce Weigl. "Songs of Napalm" New Directions Publishing Corp 1999
Website: http://www.groveatlantic.com/