Why Use Poetry in a Novel? Pt. II
In Chapter Six, page 27, of the Boot: A Sorta Novel of Vietnam, there is another poetic interlude by the author. This free verse is an exploration of a wall that exists between enlisted and officer. On a deeper level, the walls that separate humans into stereotypical groups. The verse questions why any wall would exist that separates us from our humanity.
Black from white.
Penis from Clitoris Magnus (-a, -um).
All Hail Vishnu
Protector of the thick of head
Breeder of superstition
Creator of the White-trash limbo
Curator of the Museum of Unnatural Stupidity
Banish thyself from the King’s Garden of Cups.
In Chapter Seven, page 37, there is more free verse concerned with other recurring themes in the book. Religion and moral ambivalence and their role in war. G.O. is a fence-sitter when it comes to religion but is opposed to orthodoxy and is rebellious against all authority. His psychological doppelgänger, Locker, is a true atheist. True in the sense that he is much more tolerant of orthodox religion than his counterpart, G.O. In this poem, G.O. is mind traveling while staring at a picture of the crucifixion, by Matthias Grünewald:
Here I hang from this high tree,
Fetus of the Last Checkmate.
“Hi, Mom!
Say hello to Pete and all the guys.”
Do I become you now, Pop,
Or have I always been?
Will I return again like that Egyptian dude
Osiris?
Thanatos approaches,
Steel-tipped spear in hand.
Love me
And
Set me free.
In Chapter Ten, pages 51 and 52, the prose is interrupted by a free verse ode to all ‘shortimers.’ Marines who had made it through the War, in particular, to Danny D. There is an underlying religious theme again since Danny D. and his relation to the FNGs (Fucken New guys) is symbolic of Jesus and his disciples. The fact that the FNGs would be witness to unbelievable things, that their eyes would not believe, and that would test their faith, is also presented. It is interesting to note that after the representative ‘Last Supper’ in the E Club, the crew ends up in a symbolic baptism of excrement in a non-potable shower.
Mister Entertainment
Son of Narragansett
Bearer of the Rhode Island Cross
Divine Dancer
Rise O’ Dionysus
Bring forth the Spring
Tell the Tale of the Lotus
And the powers granted to you by mighty Khepera
Mystic Son of Antoninus.
Open a Chili-One
And sing the song of the
Mysterious Albino WaterBoo
In Chapter Eleven, page 58, the first poem in the book by poet Bill McCloud appears. Bill is a Vietnam vet who has written insightful and emotional poetry about his time in Vietnam in his book, The Smell of the Light. In this chapter, the two Vietnamese analogs of G.O. and Locker appear, Xin Loi and Hung Dong. This poem captures all of the emotion in that instance where you think you might be dead. Bill subtlety explicates the subconscious fear of death and the desire to survive when the door separating life and death is briefly opened, providing a glimpse to the other side, then suddenly closed.
I think I may be dead
there is no pain
just a sense of loss
Someone is calling me
but to return?
or to go forward?
Things are devolving toward
a great sense of nothingness
but I want so much more
Until Next Time,
I Remain,
Just another Zororastafarian writer who ‘struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more…’
