For my second response I chose “Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting” (Powers). I like that the title is almost longer than the poem. I love short poems, not because I am lazy but because being able to convey something so serious and heartfelt in something so short is truly amazing. I have never been to war nor do I plan on going. I would defend my country any day but I will not defend our stupid government that runs it. I have no personal way to relate to this poem besides the fact that it captivated me from the first line. I cannot imagine trying to write a love letter or a poem during war. Sitting in a trench waiting for a mortar to come raining down on you to end everything. Not knowing if these were the last words that you would ever send home. Knowing that the last time you saw your loved ones eyes could have been your last. Wondering what you are even doing there besides killing people because you’re told to.
How the reader compares his love for what I assume is his wife to ten minutes of sleep or to not killing is amazing. It shows just how tired and mentally worn the soldiers are. Either way you look at it that is a lot of love. I guess almost everyone loves not to kill, but until you are forced to you cannot truly appreciate it. The way that he describes how the letter will stink of his surroundings and of what the letter says, almost puts you there with him. I can’t imagine being surrounded by death and violence. Yet trying to think of home and the ones you love so that you can write a letter that will not make them worry any more than they already do. I think that is why most soldiers do not talk about what happens over there. They don’t want to expose our innocent minds to the horror that they have been exposed to. We have it in our heads that everything is ok simply because we are not in the middle of it. Ignorance is bliss.
Works Cited
Powers, Kevin C. “Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting” (Feb, 2009) Poetry
https://1bb.yc.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/contentWrapper.jsp?content_id=_1134902_1&displayName=Kevin+Powers,+Letter+Composed+During+a+Lull+in+the+Fighting&course_id=_21831_1&navItem=content&href=http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html%3Fid%3D182821
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