The poem I chose from the “Poets Against the War” database is by Jean Gerard, and is titled “Chasing a Grain of Rice”. What strikes me most about the poem is how it doesn’t focus on anything war-related for almost the entire poem, retelling and describing the night’s events with an almost factual tone, but reminds us in the final stanza that war is continually in the back of peoples’ minds. In this poem, it is manifested as a woman mindfully eating the last grain of rice in her dinner bowl. Is this because she knows there may be a time in the near future when there will be none? The end of this poem brings up many questions, but particularly strikes me because it gives such a vivid snapshot of someone’s daily life and the often unseen psychological effects war can have, in the “little things” and ways it can interrupt parts of everyday life for so many people.
you make a good point that she appreciates what she has in the last grain. what caught my attention
ReplyDelete"remembering the war, with utmost care."
In a writing workshop I attended this winter, we focused on memories and family lineage which made me think about the importance of remembering and how we remember. this tied in with the culture shock of Mennonites and their strong heritage left me with little land to stand on coming from a home that know naught of my own lineage.
what I see is a woman reflecting on a time of pain, of learning with tenderness. She will pass on her experiences with her family and those in that room by her stories and her actions, such as chasing that rice. What will that tell the children that don't have to experience the war she did? how can we remember others' experiences?
by passing them with care.
I just noticed that you used "penultimate" properly in reviewing my paper. Props on that usage -- it doesn't happen enough.
ReplyDeleteI had been exposed to this particular Gerard poem, and it still still reminds me of my 96 year old great-grandmother. As the matriarch of the family, she was around quite a bit for my early upbringing, and always exhibited (and still does) habits from the second world war frugal era. She learned from her own mother how to survive and thrive Great Depression living conditions. She thanked God for every last bread crust, and never through out an edible scrap of food (though what she and I considered to be edible differed on the occasion). Poems and people such as these help to put life into healthy perspective.
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