Responding To A Poem

One of the poems that stuck out to me was Photograph from September 11^th by Wislawa Szymborska. It made me remember that horrid day and the days that followed it. The way Szymborska described the people in mid air just made me cringe. The opening of the poem read,

“They jumped from the burning floors—

            One, two, a few more,” (Szymborska Line 1-2)

In my mind I could visualize the people jumping for their lives and feeling remorse about it. It seems so unfair that they had no choice but to burn alive or jump. The author described that by catching them in mid air they weren’t gone yet and time would always stand still. The way Szymborska closed the poem I felt was the most appropriate, when she said,

“I can do only two things for them—

Describe this flight

And not add a last line.” (17-19)

By not giving the poem or picture and ending the lives in the picture were saved, they were free of death. It gives a warm feeling in my heart that in that picture the poem gives they are still alive.  

                The poem Song of Napalm by Bruce Weigl was a very sad poem. I have always heard that when people come back from a war they have flashbacks and have a hard time coping with them. This poem is a veteran looking out at his land and it turns into a horrid sight from when he was at war. This poem is for his wife and I feel as if he is trying to free them both of this image and how he behaved. I know that this vision of the little girl on fire has haunted him, but I don’t believe he could have done anything. So instead of thinking the worse he gives the little girl the best. In the poem Weigl says “I try to imagine she runs down the road and wings beat inside her until she rises above the stinking jungle and her pain eases, and your pain, and mine,” (30-33). He tries to imagine the best for the little girl because thinking that can allow him and his wife to move forward and put this behind them.  The closing stanza of the poem,

“Burning bodies so perfectly assume. Nothing   

Can change that; she is burned behind my eyes   

And not your good love and not the rain-swept air   

And not the jungle green

Pasture unfolding before us can deny it.” (41-45)

     is Weigl saying that although he can imagine the little girl was saved from the pain it didn’t actually happen and he will always remember what he saw. All veterans that go through war have similar flashbacks and probably wish they could erase things that they saw. This poem was very touching and sad.

Works Cited

Szymborska, Wislawa. “Photograph From September 11^th.”

Weigl, Bruce. “Song of Napalm.”

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