Dien Cai Dau is a book of poems written by Yusef Komunyakaa. The poems in the book describe the Vietnam war through the eyes of an African American. This was an interesting perspective to look at the war through. There were many common themes between a typical white American soldier and the north Vietnamese soldiers such as each had girls back home who they constantly relied on for emotional support and as a way to get through each battle. Also, many of the poems focused on prostitution and bar scene that soldiers also used to escape from the reality of the war. Another similarity between all three soldiers was the descriptions of extreme violence that affected them every day. All groups of soldiers were always amazed with the brutality and always went into extreme detail trying to describe how the body flew when it hit a booby trap or what it looked like to lay in ambush waiting for the enemy to stubble upon them. One of the major differences though was that many of the poems focused on the racial side of the war. During the time of the Vietnam War the Civil Rights Movement was going on and Martin Luther King Jr. was killed. In country many white soldiers brought their prejudice with them and tried to form segregated bars and brothels when they got to Vietnam.

The first poem that i chose to analyze is called "You and I Are Disappearing." This poem describes the memories a soldier has from when he heard a girl being burned to death. The poem seems to describe the PTSD that the soldier is experiencing. "The cry I bring down from the hills belongs to a girl still burning..." This line describes how even when the soldier left the scene of the event he still heard the girl still screaming. It sounds like this event was so traumatic that it will never leave his head. The rest of the poem describes how she burns in excruciating detail. This event clearly had a profound effect on the soldier. This reminds me of the scenes we have read about in the other novels we have read about civilians being massacred either accidentally or on purpose and how shocking it is to most of the soldiers. The imagery used to describe how the girl burned made it sound like it was very quickly and fiercely but it seems that the scream will haunt the soldier forever.

The next poem that I chose to analyze was "Tu Do Street." This poem describes how white soldiers treated black soldiers and the racial factors on the American side of the war. The poem describes a street where bars on one part of it only serve white soldiers and that black soldiers "have their own turf." This shows many white soldiers brought their prejudices over from the states. "the only thing that brought them together was machine gun fire." This shows even though they fought together they were not friends. Black soldiers were still treated like second class citizens. However in the last few lines of the poem its states that black and white soldiers often slept with the same prostitutes just minutes apart so it was almost like they were kissing each other. This poem seemed to highlight the fact that many African American soldiers were fighting for a country that didn't give them the same rights as all its other citizens.

The final poem that I chose to analyze was "Thanks." This poem again has a theme that is found throughout all soldiers on both sides of the conflict. This poem reads exactly like a prayer. It is giving thanks for all the parts of nature that saved this soldiers life. In every text we have read whether the soldier is religious or not they always thank something other higher power for their existence. I also found interesting because it gave thanks for all the little things. The tree that blocked a bullet, or the monarch butterfly that rested on the pin to a booby trap. War clearly taught soldiers to appreciate the small finer points of life and nature and often times that appreciation helped with their survival.