« Iraqi Bloom | Main | off to see the blizard »
December 5, 2004
Kidding Myself in Kuta - a Pantoum
They've hired too many actors for the scene
The piles of bodies really are a laugh
The wounds are so extreme that they're obscene
With limbs ripped off and bodies cut in half
The piles of bodies really are a laugh
The blood however excellently done
With limbs ripped off and bodies cut in half
While all around the crimson rivers run
The blood however excellently done
Confused? Concussed? A little drunk perhaps
While all around the crimson rivers run
I am the one in shock who laughs and claps
Confused? Concussed? A little drunk perhaps
At last it dawns, there is no camera crew
I am the one in shock who laughs and claps
Hawaiian shirt with blood now streaming through
At last it dawns, there is no camera crew
A laugh chokes in my throat, I'm sobbing now
Hawaiian shirt with blood now streaming through
A man in white sticks something on my brow
A laugh chokes in my throat, I'm sobbing now
The frantic search for living victims starts
A man in white sticks something on my brow
He smiles and whispers sorry and departs
The frantic search for living victims starts
A second man comes close, and shakes his head
He smiles and whispers sorry and departs
I can't accept I'm very nearly dead
A second man comes close, and shakes his head
I do not want to face my life's conclusion
I can't accept I'm very nearly dead
It's just a film: my final self delusion
I do not want to face my life's conclusion
They've hired too many actors for the scene
It's just a film: my final self delusion
The wounds are so extreme that they're obscene
Published in Quadrant No 410 (October 2004)
Selected in Best Australian Poems 2004, ed Les Murray
Black Inc, Melbourne Australia, ISBN 186 395 2055
Posted by alan at December 5, 2004 8:50 AM
Comments
Alan - "Kidding Myself in Kuta" is extraordinary. It paints the picture for the reader to visualize for him/herself and the horror is palpable. Have you been to Iraq? I certainly would think you have been and have seen for yourself the sickness of war to have been able to write with such pathos. It's a beautiful poem.
Posted by: Nancy Grim at December 14, 2004 2:18 PM
I love pantoums - there's something very powerful about them, because of their hypnotic rhythm. I haven't tried a rhymed one though. It's too easy (for me) to slip into doggerel. You've pulled it off really well. The repetitiveness has the effect of piling the horror higher and higher.
Posted by: Nancy at December 14, 2004 2:30 PM
Hello folks nice blog youre running
Posted by: lolita at January 20, 2005 11:54 AM