An after poem, reflection, and collages based on Robert Bly’s poem Counting Small Boned Bodies
what is an after poem?
a poem that is written in response to, or inspired by, another poem, typically acknowledging the original source. It can be seen as a form of intertextuality, a conversation with or homage to a previous work.
after poem ✐ᝰ⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
titled: counting bodies
There was a town here once.
Way down that dusted road
Where men lived to die
and women were born to moan.
Rubble scattered like embers of pile fires
bodies laid in rows, ready to be rosed
The captain of counting sheep doesn’t sleep much after days like these.
Barges filled with small boned bodies,
well at least they won’t wash ashore
But a finger ring and a keepsake forever
Costs much more than they ever bargained for
The following image contains Robert Bly’s Counting Small Boned Bodies :
analysis//reflection ⌕
Robert Bly wrote Counting Small-Boned Bodies in sarcastic protest against the Vietnam War, specifically mocking the Pentagon’s daily public release of death toll statistics. His use of sarcasm critiques the pride associated with using enemy body counts as a measure of progress and success. By employing first-person plural pronouns such as “us” and “we,” Bly implicates the reader, alluding to how the Pentagon and other war powers involved civilians. The guilt and pride are no longer the government’s alone but are shared equally with its citizens.
This war marked the beginning of a new age—one where civilians worldwide would witness the gruesome effects of war in real time from the comfort of their living rooms.
Now, some 50 years later, I cannot escape the counting, no matter how hard I try. The death toll tick-tick-ticks away in our pockets, under our thumbs, in our ear pods, on our wrists. Every war, every crime, every disaster is now in our hands—a digital keepsake reminding us of one thing: we are just bodies waiting to be counted as proof that some more powerful force has won a fight we never agreed to.
*Header image copyright Horst Faas//AP
Chloeandclover 