It is curiosity that catches the reader's attention while reading the Colonel by Carolyn Forche. By glancing at the poem on paper, the whole form of it sparked my interest. This poem was different than what I thought because it is set up more like a story. There is one paragraph, with no structure really, simply a square text box. This poem differs from what we imagine a poem to be by surprising us with off the wall, gruesome things. Upon scanning the first few lines, you picture a normal, everyday family seen; the wife, daughter and son. After painting this picture in your mind, a curve ball is thrown in with the pistol laying next to the man on the cushion. "There were daily papers, pet dogs, a pistol on the cushion beside him." (Line 4)

This only starts the darker things in the poem, and starts to take the path in an opposite direction, toward an evil life. There were several things in this poem that were left unanswered, and was a little difficult to follow. I have to admit for one, that the speaker does not really give away who he is. This first lines start confusing you right away. "What you have heard is true. I was in his house." (Line 1) It doesn't really tell throughout the story what relation he has to "him". The most obvious gruesome thing in this story of course, is the human ears. There is am extremely inhuman thing stated after mentioning them; "They were like dried peach halves". (Line 23) Where the heck did this come from?
The last thing I would like to mention that threw me for a loop was this line:
"I am tired of fooling around he said. As for the rights of anyone,
tell your people they can go f--- themselves." (Line 27)

This is not something that would be in a normal poem, and is why this one sure catches your attention with curiosity. This is a good thing for an author to do. It is not so much what you write about, but how different it is from other work. originality is the new "accepted normal". The more unique you are, the more accepted, which in the past was always the opposite. When I say this I am referring to all things these days, different is what catches the attention of people.

Song of Napalm by Bruce Weigl is excellent for drawing images in your mind. Each line from the first paints a picture with details, creating for every reader to envision the exact same thing. This poem also paints a picture and after a while, turns into something you don't expect. It is not easy to tell from the first few lines that this poem is going to turn more unhappy. It begins as a fairly happy tone. "The grass was never more blue in that light, more Scarlet; beyond the pasture." (Par.1) This sounds relaxing to me, like a beautiful pasture with horses in the misty distance. The next few lines was a big hint into what it would lead to. "Trees scraped their voices into the wind, branches Crisscrossed the sky like barbed wire." (Par.1 ) Barbed wire changes the tone from relaxing. Barbed wire is rough, and painful. The girl burning in the end did not give a happy feeling while reading this. This poem ends leaving you with the feeling that she burned, and there is nothing anyone can do about it.

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., http://www.groveatlantic.com/.


Forche, Carolyn. "The Colonel." The Country Between Us. 1978.