He danced with tall grass
for a moment, like he was swaying
with a woman. Our gun barrels
glowed white-hot.
When I got to him,
a blue halo
of flies had already claimed him.
I pulled the crumbed photograph
from his fingers.
There's no other way
to say this: I fell in love.
The morning cleared again,
except for a distant mortar
& somewhere choppers taking off.
I slid the wallet into his pocket
& turned him over, so he wouldn't be
kissing the ground.
This poem had great imagery and I especially like the last line of the poem, " turned him over, so he wouldn't be kissing the ground". I believe thats the best line because even in war time people can still be civilized and as a sign of respect Yusef turned his fallen enemy over. One other line that gave great imagery was the opening "He danced with tall grass for a moment, like he was swaying with a woman". Again the imagery was amazing here because you can visualize the struggle the man had after being shot. All in all, the greatest strength here had to be Yusef's imagery as well as the fact that his poem told an interesting story of wartime.
ReplyDeleteGreat response, very well said and considered.
Delete"a blue halo of flies ha already claimed him." That has to be my favorite line of this poem for this is where I imagine the man dead. The beginning of the poem was when he was shot dead, and after Yusef finally got to him he was already dead. "I fell in love," was a way of describing how much he honored the man. He finally looked at peace is what I got from it. The picture he found in the man's hand was probably a picture of his family and as a sign of respect he turned him over so he would stop facing the ground at look up at the heavens.
ReplyDelete"There's no other way to say this: I fell in love." I think this is real. I can relate because when you fall in love, sometimes you deny it. You never want to face the fact, but sometimes you have to. Over all, this poem is cool. The flow is interesting in a sense he talked about guns and love within the poem. I like this poem. :)
ReplyDelete"So he wouldn't be kissing the ground." struck me in an intense manner. The love that this poem depicted earleir was later morphed into the dead love between the ground and the man. As in the man kissed the ground for he was dead and could do no other action of romance. It's thought provoking. It brought about eh thought of how long could have this man been holding the photograph and kissing the ground?
ReplyDelete"& turned him over, so he wouldn't be
ReplyDeletekissing the ground."
this image was ironic cause he just took the picture of his lover and basically fell in love her beauty. He took a dead man's wife then in respect he turned him over so he does look like he was just ended a horrible way.
The line that caught my attention the most was where the author of this poem said, "& turned him over, so he wouldn't be kissing the ground." I liked this line because basically he had died so as a sign of respect he turned him over so he wouldn't be kissing the ground. This poem has very nice imagery, I enjoyed reading it.
ReplyDelete