Poetry Of Witness

   First, I must say that some of the poems were extremely difficult for me to understand. I had to re-read and use a dictionary for some of the words. I would have to say that the poem "Photograph from September 11" really stood out to me. I  look back to 2001 and remember that day like it was yesterday. My friend had just picked me up and we were on our way to school. I can remember the sadness that filled the halls and the look that people had on their face as the TV’s blared with the sound of the divesting event. The poem was short and straight to the point. It was simple and easy to understand---yet it was so moving. As soon as I saw the title I thought to myself, this is something that occurred in my life time it should a good one.  The line, “They jumped from the burning floors” (Szymborska 1). Right away it brought sadness to my heart. It was like the whole day flashed in from of my eyes. So many innocent people lost their lives because of this. I couldn’t imagine witnessing such a horrible thing.

   "Song of Napalm" was  interesting--yet it sent chills down my spine. I don’t know a whole lot about the war so I had to do some research. In turn that helped me understand what exactly everything in the poem meant. The poem was written to his wife and he watched the bombs drop. He talked about how insane he was and the smell of the bodies. One line that stood out to me was, “And the girl runs only as far as the Napalm allows until her burning tendons and crackling muscles draw her up into that final position” (Weigl 1). Not only did that completely disgust me but it made me think of how wars really affect someone and their well-being. I could never imagine having to deal with something like this. I am coming to form opinions about these poems now that I understand them a little better.

The first photo was taken from: http://www.triple-tri.com/ttblog/index.php?m=200909

Second was taken from:http://www.puppetgov.com/2009/09/16/pictures-of-war-can-carry-more-moral-meaning-than-thousands-of-words/

Here is a site to check out!!

Works Cited :
Bruce Weigl, “Song of Napalm” from Archaeology of the Circle: New and Selected Poems. Copyright © 1999 by Bruce Weigl. Reprinted with the permission of Grove/Atlantic, Inc.,www.groveatlantic.com. 


Wislawa Szymborska, “Photograph from September 11” from Monologue of a Dog. Copyright © 2005 by Wislawa Szymborska. Reprinted with permission of Harcourt, Inc.