call in the reinforcements

Pen and Ink drawing from The Smithsonian Institution

I’ve got this one more thing to share from the seminar, and then we can get back to the sexy stuff (don’t worry, I have it on good authority that the one and only Dys will be back soon). I know some of our readers don’t have much patience for metaphors, so I’ll just say that this poem has a lot to do with the issue of positive vs. negative reinforcement I was getting at in the previous post. And before you judge its literary merit, take a look at who wrote it. It’s called, "The Soldier."

A poem written suddenly
Outpouring on paper
Scribbled down hurriedly
While thoughts are hot still
Becomes a soldier, defiant, free
To fight my war, to fight for me.

An onslaught of words, defending me,
Goes forth like a brave trooper
From his home. And now,
Without author, stands alone.

But it returns, red marks like wounds
Slashing the innocent lines,
The struggle over.
The wounds are deep. They reach
To scar my soul which cries out:
“Understand!” The feeling, not the grammar,
Should be read! Now the soldier is dead.
The poem that he was lies crumpled
In a corner, the effort made in vain.

The enemy has won.

Rencle Farwell, grade 6 (from this book)