The first poem that really spoke to me was Song of Napalm by Bruce Weigl. The reason I reacted emotionally to this is because of the way Weigl was able to capture the horror and the sadness of how violent napalm can be. When I read this poem it makes me think of the famous picture from Vietnam of the little kids running down the street screaming as their skin burns from the napalm slowly melting their skin away. It is amazing how Weigl can take such horrific imagery and turn it into poetic language. What makes this poem even more chilling is the fact that Weigl actually served in the Vietnam war so his words are not just coming from his imagination but they are coming from first hand experience which makes his poem even more real in a sense.
The second poem that really spoke to me is Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting by Kevin C Powers. When I first read the poem I did not really understand what it was about but after reading again I realize that it is about war. The poem to me makes me realize all the things that we take for granted on an everyday basis that soldiers do not get on an everyday basis. We can sleep for more than ten minutes, we do not have to kill people, we do not have to worry about our lives, which every soldier in every war has to do. What I like most about this poem is I can visualize a soldier writing a letter to his wife talking about all the horrible things that he has to do and all the hardships he faces on an everyday basis, it makes the poem more surreal. Everyday we wake up and most of us take for granted what we have and do not realize that there are men and women all over the world fighting for our freedoms, and for that I am thankful.
Bruce Weigl's Song of Napalm
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=171470
Kevin C. Powers' Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=182821
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