by Hubert Wilson
America did not foresee
Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!
Expecting others to pay a high price.
Now thinking twice?
Toll on the innocent and unborn.
Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.
Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.
All the deceit continues to spread.
Nefariously America led astray -
Generations untold WILL pay -
Execrable effects of agent orange spray!
About Hubert Wilson
- Born 1968, Died 1972
- Staff Sergeant in the United States Air Force
Although this poem depicts the war that happened in the past, Hubert's poem "Rainbow Death" shows a modern day ingredient of warfare, Agent Orange. Agent Orange is a codenamefor a herbicide and defoliant used by the US military in its herbicidal warfare program during the Vietnam war. Hence, from this source of information, we can tell that the poem that Hubert wrote was about the Vietnam war. It reminds us that the war may not be over even when it is over.
Poem Analysis
Hubert Wilson uses end rhymes in his poem, such as "price" & "twice", "dead" & "spread", with a "rhyme combo" in the last 3 lines, "astray", "pay" & "spray". If you notice, the end rhymes are all bad, some in context of the poem. Hubert wanted to convey the message that war was bad and that there will be many casualties. He urged people to "think twice" lest they pay a "high price".
Reflections
I feel that this poem, although being short, successfully conveys the message of the ill effects of war. Hubert, in this poem, emphasises greatly on the ill effects of it and questions the reader whether they are "thinking twice". Mixing modern details into a historic war is quite ironic and definitely will get the attention of readers as they would be more aware of the current situations better than the past.
References
http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/2010warpoetry.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange
