2012.5.7
Bandana

(A poem inspired by:

“Shrimp”: https://freeassociationhaikufactory.edublogs.org/2012/04/05/shrimp/#comment ;

“The Things They Carried vs Forrest Gump”: http://gilmers.edublogs.org/2012/03/27/the-things-they-carried-vs-forrest-gump/

and

“30 Uses for a Bandana”: http://survivalcache.com/30-uses-for-a-bandana/)

They carried the sign of the free.
They signaled with it.
They warmed with it.
They tourniqueted it.

They held pots with it.
They collected edibles with it.
They blocked the sun with it.

They slung it as first aid.
They slung it as David deathed Goliath.
They swung it at staff’s end.

They moved cordage with it.
They made washcloths of it.
They made sweatbands of it.

It was a hobo pack.
It was hotspot padding.
It cleaned firearms.
It oiled them.
It wiped them.

They marked trails with it.
They made dishrags of it.

It was a napkin.
It was an eye patch and blindfold.

It was a prewater filter on coffee colored mornings.
It cleaned spex, goggles, glasses, field glasses, binoculars, face shields, wind shields, hoods, grills, and fenders.

They made earmuffs of it.
They bound stones with it and tossed lines through the arbor.
They made dust masks of it to filter breath or conceal identity.
They wet it and wore it in hot weather.

They sneezed into it.
They received a silent “Bless You” or “Gesundheit” or “Salud” or other expressions for giving purpose to a square of cloth as it shielded against superstition.

That . . . that’s about it . . .

They could have worn it nude . . .
. . . in the nude . . . like . . .
Loincloths . . .
. . . but they carried comfort in nudity and a needless
Bandana.

Reflections . . .

The perceptions posted on other participants’ blogs served as great inspiration for reply posting. With comparisons of The Things They Carried to the likes of Forrest Gump and The Hobbit, the influence of one work is put in conversation with other works. Written works “talk” to each other through the reader’s perception and interpretation of the texts. The reader makes connections through reminders of previous experiences. This was demonstrated in the poem/post “Shrimp.”

A comment was made of the connection of The Things They Carried with Forrest Gump. This served as a reminder of Bubba’s monologue of the numerous ways shrimp may be prepared. The dialog was edited to represent “they” from The Things They Carried, but, instead of shrimping as a prosperous business after returning from war, “they” “shrimped” (interpreted to mean “warring”) as an obligation to carry out their duty. By this interpretation, Forrest, Bubba, and Lt. Dan had been “shrimping” long before the end of the war.

The juxtaposition of “preparing shrimp” as food with the massacring of Vietnamese opposition means to portray the imbalance between those involved. The United States as an industrialized nation “cooked” Vietnam as a lesser industrialized nation, or “shrimp” eaten by a “whale,” or “shark,” or other such larger predatory animal symbolism.

The last stanza of “Shrimp” drew a few comments that asked for elaboration and served as wonderful criticism of the stanza’s possible meanings, and a chance for the author to defend the stanza’s inclusion. Without the last stanza, the poem would otherwise be Bubba’s monologue rewritten. The last stanza punctuates Bubba’s conclusion, “That . . . that’s about it.” The “they” narrator from the “Shrimp” poem interrupts the conclusion with another possible use for “shrimp” “they” could attempt if only they understood the potential detriment of “shrimping” on the region.

As well, the “boxing” of anything entails limitations to “it,” a shrimp supply, chocolates in a “box,” one’s open-mindedness, one’s imagination, one’s enemies, etc. By “boxing” life and “shrimping” others, the poem means to portray the tyranny of predominate cultures’ negatively assumed authority over “subordinate” cultures.

In summary, the “Shrimp” poem was a great success for its driving the imagination and commentary of the author and others. The texts seem to “talk” to each other through the readers’ interpretations, the analyses, and subsequent commentary produced by others. The communication and interaction between authors illustrates the ways in which people make connections through texts and experiences.

2012.4.4
Foot and Thumb
(Inspired by: http://clagunas.edublogs.org/2012/03/27/the-things-they-carried-post-one/):

One may note the powerful symbolism in the stories such as a rabbit’s foot, and a thumb removed from a Vietnamese corpse. Superstition and the spoils of war . . . the heavy weight of trying to survive, animal parts as good luck charms, and human body parts as trophies as proof of power over the enemy, the things they carried sometimes came as a desecration of human life.

Perhaps one of the more gruesome scenes comes in the story “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong,” as Mary Anne Bell is revealed to be wearing a necklace of human tongues, and a game has been made of “reassembling” dismembered deceased Vietnamese.

They were all at war with the war, starting from the muck up. The poverty of the enemy becomes the value, the trophy, the ownership, the “win” where there may otherwise be only confusion of purpose, lost in a jungle, trying to comprehend the moral, to listen, or trying not to listen at all.

2012.4.4
Sequence: The Flashbacks They Recalled/Carried
(Inspired by: http://jgschmidt.edublogs.org/2012/03/21/text-connections-the-things-they-carried/)

The suggestion may be made that the novel humanizes the soldiers. They carried innocence and experience. They carried the good of their humanity in conflict with the evil of their ways required to survive. O’Brien humanizes the soldiers with their obsessions to return home to friends and family, but also shows them as boys filling the roles of soldiers, and yet monsters with distorted perceptions and values for life.

For example, Azar straps Ted Lavender’s puppy to an explosive device, Lee Strunk bashes his own nose to even the score for bashing Dave Jensen’s nose, and Rat Kiley gruesomely slays a baby water buffalo as well as shooting himself in the foot to get sent home.

Another example of humanization and monster-ization is the story “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” which details the transformation of Mary Anne Bell from a sweet and innocent simpleton to a deadly and savage combatant, losing/forgoing her innocence to the jungle and the spirit of war and/or the land, Vietnam.

The sequence of events are out of order. They carried sequence of events muddled with reflections. O’Brien carries those reflections like a torch to light fire to those who hear the stories, and understand the moral. Perhaps O’Brien writes the sequence of events out of order as a literary device to convey how a soldier’s post-war recollections may come in waves of thought, or flashbacks as they may be called/carried.

2012.3.29
Learning Burn
(A poem inspired by “The Things Teachers Carried”)
(http://jeremiah138.edublogs.org/2012/03/26/the-things-teachers-carry/):

They carried a burning to learn and to educate.
They carried inadequate health insurance.
They carried the assumption their health insurance was adequate.
They carried exorbitant medical bills
For surgeries
Or pregnancies
Or emergencies
Or urgencies
Or totally irrelevant hypochondriac non-emergencies.
They carried new shoes and a new haircut.
They carried a library card
And an overdue fee for
Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried”.
They paid the fee gleefully
For “The Things They Carried” was worthy
Of reading and rereading.
They carried a burning to learn and to educate.
It came at a price,
The burning,
The learning,
The educating,
The carrying . . .
It came at a price,
And that price was . . .

. . . the things teachers carry . . .

2012.4.4
Shrimp
(A poem inspired by “The Things They Carried vs Forrest Gump”)
(http://gilmers.edublogs.org/2012/03/27/the-things-they-carried-vs-forrest-gump/):
 
They carried the fruit of the sea.
They barbecued it.
They boiled it.
They broiled it.
They baked it.
They sautéed it.
 
It came kabobed.
It came creole.
It came gumbo.
 
They pan fried it.
They deep fried it.
They stir-fried it.
 
It came flavored.
Pineapple.
Lemon.
Coconut.
Pepper.
 
They made soup.
They made stew.
They made salad.
They made it with potatoes.
They made burgers.
They made sandwiches.
 
That . . . that’s about it . . .
 
They could have dipped it in chocolate . . .
. . . dipped in life . . . like . . .
A box of chocolates . . .
. . . but they carried a distaste for chocolate covered
Shrimp.

Screwed to a Post, for God Sake
(A digital story dedicated to Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried)