ELLEN JAFFE

VIET NAM , August 11, 1966    

11 people die, 187 are wounded

it is a tragedy

because

they are civilian

11 people die, 187 are wounded

it is a victory

because

they are the enemy

11 people die, 187 are wounded

it is an atrocity

because

they are ours

skin off the labels,

taste the darkness beneath

ask a leg if it is civilian

an arm if it is the enemy

an eye if it is ours

Ellen S. Jaffe, published in Crossing Lines: Poets Who Came to Canada in the Vietnam War Era.  Ed. Allan Briesmaster and Steven Michael Berzensky, Seraphim Editions: Hamilton, 2008.

Ellen and Steven talked to Steve Paikin of TVO’s The Agenda about this book in February 2011 as a webcast feature. You can watch the interview, in which Ellen reads this poem, at http://bit.ly/gwR83k