Poetry of Witness

Carolyn Forche, “The Colonel”

I choose this poem because it was very odd. They catch us in the poem with the first sentence saying, “What you have heard is true” (Forche).  She makes us wonder, “What have we hear?” “Why is it important?”  Forche goes on to talk about how they’re like everyday people; watching TV, reading the paper, and their daughter filing her nails; normal activities, normal people. Then all of a sudden the Colonel comes back to the dinner table with a sack and, to everyone’s surprise, the sack was filled with ears. When the Colonel takes one of the ears and drops it in the water glass Forche says, “It comes alive there” (Forche). Like the ear could hear everything and sense what the Colonel was doing, even after it was sliced off of someone’s head. After that the Colonel has a breakdown and rants about how “your people can go f--- themselves” (Forche). It sounds like the Colonel might have post-traumatic stress disorder and can’t really help his crazy rants. It might just have to be something they have to live with.

Kevin Powers, “ Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting”

I choose this poem because it was short, but had a lot of meaning. When Powers first says, “I tell her I Love her like not killing and ten minutes of sleep” (Powers), I believe it means, he doesn’t want to kill people, but doesn’t really have a choice and where he is now is so busy and stressful he’s lucky if he gets ten minutes of sleep. He goes on to say how he will smell when his Love opens the door. Meaning he’ll be so exhausted with no showers or soap or cologne or sleep to greet her after their overdue meeting. My favorite part of the poem is at the end when Powers tells us what Private Bartle says, “War is just little pieces of metal passing through each other.”  They’re out there fighting for their lives and everyone else’s and they don’t even really know why; they don’t see the point at all. Why do we need to have little pieces of metal hit someone to make peace? Why does it have to be that complicated? There should be no need for this.

Good Readers

What does Nabokov think makes a good reader?

       Notice and appreciate details. Don’t begin with a generalization of the book. Go into it with an open mind. One of the worst things you can do is have a set observation about the book and if it doesn’t go to your standards you might think back of the book. Study the ‘new world’ as closely as possible. When first reading a book have an open mind to the ideas and the new surroundings given to you.

Belong to a book club.

Identify himself as the hero or heroine.

Recognize the social-economic angle.

Prefer a story with actions/dialoge to one with none.

Seen a book in a  movie.

Should be a budding author.

Have imagination.

Should have memory.

Should have a dictionary.

Some artistic sense.

Do you agree?

     I agree with everything except a few points. I don’t believe that to be a good reader you should belong to a book club. I know a lot of people who are wonderful readers and don’t belong to any such thing. Participating in a book club shouldn’t determine if you’re a good reader or not. Also, you shouldn’t have to see the book in a movie to be considered a good reader. There are billions and trillions of books and most of them aren’t movies. Last, but not least is to be a good reader you have to be a budding author.  I don’t think that’s true at all. Some people are great readers, but terrible writers and some people are fantastic writers, but not good readers.

 What do you believe are the characteristics of a good reader?

     I believe the characteristics of a good reader are to have an open mind and a vivid imagination. When I read, I read like I would talk; with the pauses and emotions going through my head and into the words. It feels like I’m actually in the character’s lives.

Do you consider yourself a good reader?

     Yes. I Love reading and it will always be a part of my life.