Anna's Eng 102 Blog: Poetry of Witness

“Rite of Passage” by Sharon Olds

I really enjoyed this poem because it’s funny, light-hearted, and so accurately represents how kids are as

they grow up, and the

sometimes unrefined

moments that they go

through at certain stages in their lives. Olds recalls that as the guests, or young

men arrive, they all gather in the living room-short men, men in first grade (Olds Lines 2 & 3). I think it’s so funny how they all meet up with each other at once, almost as if to see what they are up against, seeing who will be the strongest out of the group. And as expected the boy only one year older says, “I could beat you up” (Olds Lines 12 & 13). And just at the right moment, the birthday boy steps in almost as if he is the mediator of the men, stands up proudly and lets all his men know that they could easily kill a two-year old (Olds Line 22). It seems that all the men know that they are all capable of accomplishing this, so they feel a sense of relief and can now go back to being little innocent boys and playing their games and just having fun! The way that the boys act like they are big, tough grown men and the way the author narrates it is almost like she is envisioning her son in the future. So through her eyes, it’s almost as if she is holding onto this moment to treasure it because her son is growing up so fast and he wants to be a tough man, but she is somewhat reluctant to see him grow up and lose his innocence. I can relate to this poem because I am a stepmother to a wonderful and beautiful five-year old daughter and she is growing up so fast, wanting to become her own independent little person already, and I’m not quite ready

for it yet! Although I can still buy her clothes, pick out her outfits, and do her hair, in a few years she will want to be doing that all herself and it’s definitely emotional to see her becoming her own person and maybe not needing me as much as before. She is still young enough though that she has that cute innocence about her and those moments are priceless and it’s something we’ll always share together, no matter how old she gets.

“Song of Napalm” by Bruce Weigl
This poem definitely was the most emotional of all the poems I read and I liked it because of how incredibly intense it was. This poem is based on the horrific

flashbacks that the author has about being in Vietnam War, and him wanting to get over this for his wife, but no matter how hard he tries, he can’t. A line in the poem that really struck me was when Weigl says that “she is burned before my eyes, and not your good love and not the rain-swept air Weigl Lines 42-45). When he says this, I can almost feel in myself the pain that he goes through when he has flashbacks of this young girl and how badly he wants to forget it, but it’s not that easy. His wife thinks it should be easy for him to finally talk about it and let it go for good, but every time he hears thunder, he has flashbacks of the loud bombs going off everywhere on the battlefield and it starts all over again. I can relate to this poem because having had friends who have been in the war has made me appreciate what these brave men do for us, but also understand how traumatic it can be. Most of my friends who have gone to war have had good experiences and would go back in a second, while a couple of them experienced the pain and suffering that Weigl did. It was very difficult for them to open up and talk about their experiences because it would bring everything back that they wanted to forget, and seeing the pain and horror still in their face was heartbreaking. As much as I wanted to be there for them while listening to the torture they saw, it was almost as if they shut me out more because in no way could I ever relate to the situation. That’s when I realized that these broken and painful images they carry with them will be with not only them, but their loved ones and friends as well; that it takes a very long time, if not their whole life, to accept what happened. It’s our job as friends and loved ones to be there to comfort them and keep reminding them that what they did was not only brave, but helped save millions of lives.

Image URL: http://www.warriorspirit.co.za/assets/images/Boys_playing_soldiersB.jpg

Image URL: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/11/05/article-1083145-02519166000005DC-968_468x286.jpg

MLA: Olds, Sharon. "Rites of Passage". Strike Sparks: Selected Poems, 1980-2002. 2004. Web.

MLA: Weigl, Bruce. "Song of Napalm". Archaeology of the Circle: New and Selected Poems. 1999. Web.

"Song of Napalm" Video