Blog 7 TJM

Dien Cai Dau is a book of poetry written by Vietnam Veteran Yusef Komunyakaa. Yusef served in the Us Army in 1965 and served a tour in Vietnam. He specialized in military journalism and wrote for Southern Cross, which chronicled the war and the lives of the soldiers and the native people. For his service to our country he was awarded a bronze star after the war.

The first poem that I read was "Tunnels." This poem depicts the duties of a "tunnel rat." Usually the smallest man in the outfit was the one to explore the enemy tunnels. The VC had a unique way of fighting through tunnels that they had dug throughout the country. When they came upon a new tunnel they would send someone in the kill any enemy inside and then blow the tunnel up so that it could not be used again. This was an extremely dangerous job. "A web of booby traps waits, ready to spring into broken stars."(Komunyakaa 5) Many of the tunnels were in fact booby trapped and often resulted in death for the soldier. Komunyakaa also depicts the fear of booby traps when he writes of the soldier inspecting every root he passes.

"Roll call" is the second poem that I read. Reading the title we would believe that the poem is written about the roll taken to count the troops in the platoon, but the poem is really about 5 soldiers that had fallen in battle. Yusef tells of the sight that it must have been, soldiers staring at the upright rifles with helmets resting on top and five pairs of boots positioned in front of the chaplains cross. he also talks about how he still remembers the event and can still see those images vividly in his head.

The third poem that I read was "Prisoners." The description of the VC prisoners in this poem were amazing. He opens the poem with the vision of the prisoners crossing the helipad towards the interrogation rooms with bags over their heads. He wonders how anyone could love these broken men. The older of the prisoners never give up secrets. No matter what interrogation tactics the soldiers try the old men never seem to crack. Yusef speaks about watching them from afar and almost bowing to two men, a thought that would be unthinkable to any other American soldier at the time. All of these poems are great descriptions of life and the battles in Vietnam. Even though Yusef was not a fighting soldier, he was still up close and personal with the men on both sides of the battle.