Afghan War Poetry

While in class, I have noticed that what sparks my interest greatly is to read poetry. The way my brain is wired has shown me over time that when I read a first hand account of a situation, I understand it much more than simply researching it. I found an amazing website that shares the stories of soldiers and those who lived through the Afghanistan War expressed in poetry. The War in Afghanistan refers to the intervention by North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and allied forces in the ongoing Afghan civil war. The war followed the September 11th attacks, and its public aims were to dismantle al-Qaeda and denying it a safe basis of operation in Afghanistan by removing the Taliban from power. The following poem is one of many on the website. The poet, Alex Cockers, was a Royal Marines Commando from 2005-2009 and served on Operation Herrick five and seven in Helmand province for a total of fourteen months. 

Last Stand

My last day in the desert
My last day in this sand
I hope I never come back
To this tragic barren land

Many hot days
And many moons have passed
I don’t want to fight this war anymore
My sanity won’t last

Towns have been taken
Towns have been lost
Towns have been taken back again
How many lives has it cost?

This war will not end
The stakes are far too high
A few friends are gone already
How many more will die?

Alex Cockers,
2010

HE BRUTAL GA                                                            

A recurring theme seen in almost every single poem I read on this website, including this one, was sorrow from the war. These soldiers had obviously seen awful and terrible things and they were so shell shocked that they had nothing left in them. "The Last Stand" was so brutally honest and simplistic that is shows the extent of the pain without being too poetic. Its beauty comes with the truth of the war and it becomes a reality with its simplicity. Its message of antiwar is brought about through personal perspective, exemplary use of pathos, and imagery that draws the reader in to truly believe in this cause. What really gets to a sensitized person's emotions is the image of death and the suffering of others and when this number of those who are being affected is realized, such as in this poem, it becomes real and persuades the reader to believe in the evils of war. The use of diction directly correlates to the tone of depression and hopelessness of war. This first hand account has the great function of bringing the effects of the war to the common person and making it feel real and as if it affects everyone with the basic human rights of life in question. It is obvious from this personal account that these soldiers did not fully want to be fighting for this because they saw the way of life they were damaging and knew that if they went on, they would lose so much more through combat.

If you would like to check out more of these poems, check out
http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/Afghanistan_War_Poetry.html