Unmanned
The bombs drop above my head in the village miles away
The village with my family, my friends
But it is the village with the terrorists
The American Flag waves above me as the planes fly,
symbolizing freedom, safety, security
But the stars are carnage and the stripes are revenge
They are killing us; killing me
But they are trying to kill them, the ones who
crashed airplanes into buildings and shot people dead on the streets
But are our lives really more insignificant,
and are we just collateral damage?
Bombs dropped over my head again, and again
And as the shrapnel brushed against my skin I thought,
It’s ok, I am protecting the
Americans
They think they are helping us, but
my family is gone, my friends are gone,
and they aren’t the radical ones
So the flag didn’t symbolize freedom, it symbolized death
The death of the certain happiness that the marketplace once held
Before the stands were blown to pieces
The death of the laughter that used to fill the skies as the children ran,
happy
The bombs are killing us, not them
I like the repetition of "bombs dropped over my head". It really adds to how deep the tone of the poem is.
ReplyDeleteThe lines
ReplyDelete"The American Flag waves above me as the planes fly,
symbolizing freedom, safety, security
But the stars are carnage and the stripes are revenge" are very powerful and describe the overall message of the poem. The enjambment you use throughout the poem really emphasizes the message and fits well with the poem.
I really like your final line, "The bombs are killing us, not them." and how you use structure to single out the line by itself, rather than have it at the end of a stanza.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the repetition that you used throughout the poem. My favorite line is "But the stars are carnage and the stripes are revenge". I also thought the enjambment and line breaks were well placed.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed how this poem used strong imagery to convey its point. Specifically, the stanza, "Bombs dropped over my head again, and again / And as the shrapnel brushed against my skin I thought, / It’s ok, I am protecting the / Americans" really stood out to me. Good job!
ReplyDelete