Why I always hated my name...

"Combat Pay for Jody" is unfortunately not a poem about me...it is about the "Jody" that is (excuse the french) fucking your girl while you're in a combat zone. I think my heart dropped to my stomach when I read the last line, "Your money bought my new Chevy." Something about the way Komunyakaa rubs it in your face makes me appreciate his writing more than Herr's Dispatches.

For the most part, I don't like comparing non-fiction/fictionalized journalism/journalism (or whatever it was) with poetry because people choose to write in different forms for very specific reasons--but I do choose favorites. And I choose poetry.

I appreciate the shorter more power packed poetry of Komunyakaa to the, at times, long-winded descriptions and military jargon of Herr. With Komunyakaa you are garaunteed a "aaahhhh" moment with every poem (or sometimes a "WTF?" moment for the more confusing ones). While with Herr it was more skimming, as ANdy mentioned, for the good parts.

Oh yeah, like Sau said, "Sappers" is my favorite poem. My little annotation on the bottom says, "almost intimate." And the more I read it, the more and more intimate it becomes. I think that says a lot for a poem about people trying to kill each other.



amlit338