After reading Janice Mirikitani’s poem “Loving from Vietnam toZimbabwe” there is a profound amount of imagery used by Mirikitani thatexplains a reality of sex, love, and war. Mirikitani uses an interesting andunique format in the way she has written her poem. The “I” thatMirikitani uses is not referring to herself but rather another woman who isVietnamese, or many women whom are Vietnamese. She has essentially divided herpoem into two sides. One side, the left side, is where she reveals images of sexand love. On the other side, the right side, is where she reveals the imagery ofwar.
By dividing her poem into two sides, she is able to describe twoconflicting issues that are part of the woman’s life or at some point had animpact on her life and emotions. It seems as though Mirikitani is explainingimages from Vietnam. These images of sex, love, and war that she has written inrespect to, are not the sex and love that we know as Americans, but the sex andlove that was prevalent during the Vietnam War. Mirikitani wrote this poem in1980, so it is possible that, she has some repressed images and feelings aboutthe war or war in general. Mirikitani begins her poem with images of sex andlove. By writing this poem, she has given a voice to many women from a countrytorn apart by War.
It is almost as if every image she has of sex is matched withan image of war. This reveals how the woman must deal with two realities. Onereality is the life of a Vietnamese woman and another reality of sleeping withthe enemy. These two realities seem to be conflicting with each other and itultimately makes the Vietnamese woman feel that her situation is unresolved.
Mirikitani draws the reader into the subject matter of her poem by the use ofher figurative language imagery. She describes a relationship between aVietnamese woman and an American soldier who is of color. By defining thesoldiers skin color, she metaphorically correlates his appearance as,”large/black like the shadowed belly of a leaf. “(Stanza 16, lines 3-4)By this she is defining his appearance visually so that we see him as dark as ashadow is.
It also gives the feeling that this soldier is mysterious, and coldblooded. The relationship that the woman has with the soldier is quite difficultto understand, but without reasonable doubt, these two people have engaged insexual activities. On the sex side of her poem, which is the left side, shevisually interprets her experience with the man. Mirikitani uses severalextended metaphors to describe his body, “As I move into the grassy plainof your chest” (Stanza 12, lines 3-5) is an example.
Not only does she usefigurative language to describe the man, she also uses it to describe thephysical interaction between them. For reference, stanza seven is an example ofher figurative language that I am referring to. Because of their relationship,the Vietnamese woman feels troubled because there is anger within her due towhat she feels the American soldiers have done to her people and their land. Sheis un-eased about having sex with this man because of her anger. One way to lookat their relationship is to visualize that this woman and man are in arelationship of love and that one woman’s lust for a man ultimately leads her topain when he is killed.
The woman is left in a painful and agonizing state afterthe man has been murdered; which gives the poem a slight twist at the ending. After she has left the images of the man’s death with us, she reveals that loveis dangerous and that, “loving in this world, is the silver splintingedge. ” (Stanza 20 line 1-3) Love has been painful to her and she has beenmaddened and angered by it. Another way to understand their relationship is thatthese two characters in Mirikitani’s poem do not love each other and are witheach other only for the means of sex. Mrikitani metaphorically describes theparts of the man’s body as physical places on earth, “As I reach down ontoMt. Inyangani.
” She is not actually referring to Mt. Inyangani, but to theman’s private parts. The relationship between the Vietnamese woman and the blackman seems cold and awkward. There is no love involved in their sex; it is merelya physical relationship that has no meaning.
She shows that she does notunderstand what the man is saying, “As you call me strange names. “This could be because they do not speak the same language or that these namesthat he is using are strange and unknown to her. She uses the calling of”strange names” again at the end of her poem when they have finallyengaged in sex. “I. .
. feel you enter my harbor, kiss the lips of my soul. Call me my Strange Names. ” The sex that is taking place seems so sensualand honest yet there is a continuing conflict within the woman, which ultimatelymakes her maddened by her situation. On the right side of her poem, Mirikitaniuses images of the Vietnam War to show another side of the woman’s life. Shedelivers raw images of what the American soldiers have done to her people,”You have seen them hanging in trees after American troops hadfinished.
” (Stanza 10) She uses imagery to show how brutal war is. In muchof the same way war is characterized, cold and unsympathetic, her tone on theright side of her poem has changed, it is a realization of what has gone on. Sheknows that it is not the soldier’s fault completely for what has happened. Yetthe people they were killing were her people, people of her heritage, and thepeople of the same blood as her. She feels that he was “pushed” andthat he had been “used,” by those “behind” him”pushing” him and pulling his trigger.
She feels her anger and thengoes on to describe the man’s death. By giving the recognition of, “My Lai,Bach Mai” and “Haiphong,” it is almost as if his death is invengeance of the United States imposed attacks on these particular Vietnamesecities. It seems as if Mirikitani is identifying a cycle of killing that willcontinue because of war. Although it is difficult to always get into the poetshead for a better understanding of their work, we can see that at the end of thepoem, there is a silence in Mirikitani’s writing as she has given therecognition to “My Lai, Bach Mai, and Haiphong. ” She branches off toher last stanza, which is on the sex and love side of the poem.
She uses thisfinal stanza to give a final message of love. She evaluates love as a risk inlife, it “is the dare in the teeth of the tiger. ” (Stanza 20 line 4-5)She sees love as dangerous and painful. She mentions “jungle rot”(Stanza 20 line 6) and “the madness of surviving” (Stanza 20 line 8)which is an agonizing image that she puts into our heads so that we are able tofeel the power of love and war.
We are given this image to take into account thepain that this woman has faced. It is also the pain that many women like herhave faced.
