Poetry – Page 10 – ~*LunaSea*~

Jarrell Jarrell, Randall. “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner.” The Complete Poems. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1969. 144.

Randall Jarrell has a section in his Complete Poems just for gunners. While this poem is only five lines long, it packs a punch. Evoking images of motherhood and innocence, twisting to violence and death. It is a journey. The last line so disturbed me. Read for youself and see. For once I will not spoil it by spelling it out.
I will be honest, having never faced any war of a political nature, I looked up turret just to make sure it matched what my mind was seeing. It did. That didn’t make reading this emotional poem any easier.

BookLust Twist: From More book Lust’s chapter on Poetry Pleasers (p188).

Krupat, Arnold, and Brain Swann, eds. Here First: Autobiographical Essays by Native American Writers. New York: Modern Library, 2000.

Here First was, well, here first so I’m reading it first. I’m a little over 100 pages in and my first reaction is voyeurism. I’m peering into lives and seeing cultures I know little to nothing about. There is bitterness in their words, humor on the surface. Poetry in pieces. I’m having a tough time with the prejudice because I’m one of Them (being white) and not them. A perfect example is a favorite quote:
“The neighbor boy pointed to the screen laughing at the hooting Indians being chased by cavalry and told her that she was an “Indian.” I hugged my heartbroken daughter and said, “But you are an Indian.” She told me right back, “But I’m not that kind of Indian.” None of us are.” (Bird, Gloria. Autobiography as Spectacle: An Act of Liberation or the Illusion of Liberation? p65)

Booklust Twist: Categorized as “American Indian Literature”, (Book Lust, p.23).