A Bullet Is Not a Vampire
A Bullet Is Not a Vampire
My poem "A Bullet Is Not a Vampire" was chosen by Oregon poet Danny Earl Simmons to be on his blog as an example for his column called "Poems I Admire." I was honored to have one of my poems chosen. It was first published in the United Kingdom journal Snakeskin and it is also in my book Scream Wounds.
In writing the poem, I was looking for metaphors that could show how bullets enter a body without using graphic violence. I have known soldiers who have had terrible gunshot wounds, and I have read stories about bullets striking people absolutely anywhere on their body. Sometimes a bullet misses a critical organ by a fraction of an inch. Sometimes a soldier is not so lucky.
I have also learned from my experiences in Vietnam that a bullet can "tumble." We used M-16 rifles where the bullet entry point would make a small hole, but the exit point would be a large opening because of the bullet tumbling through the body. I was thinking of that sort of mess when I wrote the poem.
The central metaphor about the vampire has to do with those creatures needing to be invited in to a house before they can enter. One of the best recent examples of that was the terrific 2008 Swedish horror film Let the Right One In based on the 2004 novel of the same title by John Ajvide Lindqvist.
I would like to return a favor with a favor and urge my readers to sign up for Danny's blog. He posts his poems and poems by others that he admires. Can't go wrong with that.
Here is a link to his blog:
http://dannyearlsimmons.blogspot.com/...
My poem "A Bullet Is Not a Vampire" was chosen by Oregon poet Danny Earl Simmons to be on his blog as an example for his column called "Poems I Admire." I was honored to have one of my poems chosen. It was first published in the United Kingdom journal Snakeskin and it is also in my book Scream Wounds.
In writing the poem, I was looking for metaphors that could show how bullets enter a body without using graphic violence. I have known soldiers who have had terrible gunshot wounds, and I have read stories about bullets striking people absolutely anywhere on their body. Sometimes a bullet misses a critical organ by a fraction of an inch. Sometimes a soldier is not so lucky.
I have also learned from my experiences in Vietnam that a bullet can "tumble." We used M-16 rifles where the bullet entry point would make a small hole, but the exit point would be a large opening because of the bullet tumbling through the body. I was thinking of that sort of mess when I wrote the poem.
The central metaphor about the vampire has to do with those creatures needing to be invited in to a house before they can enter. One of the best recent examples of that was the terrific 2008 Swedish horror film Let the Right One In based on the 2004 novel of the same title by John Ajvide Lindqvist.
I would like to return a favor with a favor and urge my readers to sign up for Danny's blog. He posts his poems and poems by others that he admires. Can't go wrong with that.
Here is a link to his blog:
http://dannyearlsimmons.blogspot.com/...
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