Thoughts 12

Death from the cold, not battle. No glory. No heroism. Just pain.

The final stanza of Exposure is one of my favourite metaphors of all time:

"Tonight, this frost will fasten on this mud and us, 
Shrivelling many hands, and puckering foreheads crisp. 
The burying-party, picks and shovels in shaking grasp,
Pause over half-known faces. All their eyes are ice, 

But nothing happens."

Essentially, the government is the weather. The noun and modal verb reveal the certainty of being mercilessly frozen, losing faith in the natural world. But also, it reveals how pointless and innocent suffering at the hands of poor leadership is equally inevitable, these men have lost their faith in their nation and effort. Additionally, the irony of the frost fastening on the "mud" indicates how the government is willing to sacrifice and harm their own men, they simply do not matter, claiming whatever they please. Furthermore, the verbs "puckering" and "shivering" allude to involuntary actions, as if these men are moving against their own volition, being forced to into warfare by manipulation and forceful control; perhaps even through intimidation as was the case with propaganda and societal expectations that if not met would result in alienation. The final repetition of the phrase "But nothing happens" reveals how suffering is never-ending, war and the failure of the state to do their job has always happened, is happening now, and will continue to happen. There is no end, no volta in the poem; it is simply prolonged suffering for no reason, no purpose, other than "burying" whoever is lucky enough to die next.

Also, there is some killer analysis you can make for the half-rhymes and regular quintets.

I love this poem. However, on the topic of Power and Conflict Poetry, I would like to say Tissue is not a good poem, at all. It's a metaphor playing with language yes, but it has no in-depth meaning. When Dharker said it's a poem about life, it became clear, she doesn't even know what it is about. Life is the simple answer to give. Everything is about life, I could write a story about a dishwasher and it could be interpreted to be about life. In conclusion, I wipe my nose with her work.