The BlueIris Semi-Nightly Poetry Break, 4/15/08 (warning: graphic language)

[BlueIris]

"Flight"


We ran from a home
						                                                     we never saw again.

Saw nothing
						                                                                  remain ours.

My arm shot.

			                                      from my body.  My wife's broken

neck.  Our son burned

					                                                      into a wing of smoke.

A peeled face boiling with flies.

						                                                                A man tearing

his gangrened leg off

			                                 with his hands.  A girl with her eyes

blown away.  She was still
						                                                                      screaming.

I know you

						                                                               cannot help us.

We will die before you

							                                                                        are born.

Things flee
						                                                                    their names.

Ash.  Bone-salt.  Charred embers.
							                                                                           of skull

The soot is
							                                                                             mute.


—Suji Kwock Kim

[BlueIris]

1. Info about the author and her 2002 book, "Notes from the Divided Country,"

about the Korean War, other conflicts that impacted the people of South East Asia in the 20th century, and the impact of those conflicts on her speaker's life, the lives of family members and survivors. Notes from the Divided Country also addresses the perils of the American immigrant and the challenges faced by people of color in our racist world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suji_Kwock_Kim

[BlueIris]

2. Kick.

[BlueIris]

3. Kick.

[ThomCat]

4. That is very difficult to read

both becasue of the format and because of the content. :(

That is a very strong poem, and it has a very powerful anti-war impact. Even partially through it, you can tell that only war could product that kind of horror.

People mentioned only in passing, and you wish you could make things better and help them. :(

[BlueIris]

5. Yeah, I think the most difficult line is: "I know you/cannot help us."

Because: we can't.

[BlueIris]

6. We're not done with Ms. Kim's poetry, folks.

So get comfortable.

[BlueIris]

7. One last possibly pointless kick for those who might've missed it last night.