Haiku of the Vietnam War
by Brittany Walsh
Oftentimes, haiku are misrepresented and misinterpreted as simple forms of poetry. Haiku may lack length, but they do not lack depth, as haiku often represent the deepest of pains and most troubling of experiences. Haiku can be used as instruments of dealing with trauma or suffering, and can express the greatest of miseries. For example, the Vietnam War is a topic that often troubles readers because of the foreign nature of the war. Soldiers and their accounts are often misunderstood through television and film reproductions. In order to best understand how the war directly affected American soldiers, one should consider the haiku of Dr. Edward Tick and Ty Hadman.
Haiku can be used as agents to uncover pain and hiddenness, which is why Vietnam War haiku are so profound and complex. In his explanation of the importance of poetry and the Vietnam War, Dr. Edward Tick explains:
Since haiku explores the human encounter with raw nature, war haiku explores the dimensions of this encounter in several simultaneous ways. It exposes the darkest dimensions of our human nature. It offers painful examples of what we do to nature. And it poetically replicates a war-like experience for the reader…haiku can also be a vehicle for expressing war’s lessons. And in our devotion to healing, poetry in general and haiku specifically can help us to physically and imagistically reconstitute those fragments of world, mind, and soul that were severed by war and violence (Tick, Sacred Mountain, 7).
The Vietnam War was a traumatic time for many, and one of the ways to best express the pain one experienced during this time is through haiku. Haiku can tell the stories of soldiers that are difficult to audibly explain. Through written words and descriptions, Vietnam soldiers tell their stories of pain and suffering, guilt and shame, protest, brotherhood, and innocence.
The topics of guilt and shame are prevalent in Vietnam War haiku because of traumatic nature of soldiers’ duties while in Vietnam. While in Vietnam, soldiers were trained to kill the enemy. Specifically, the enemy was the Vietcong and American soldiers fired bullets and threw grenades at these individuals. Because of this, many American soldiers felt significant guilt in regard to what they were doing. Many felt directly responsible for the destruction of Vietnam and the deaths of many. One haiku to explore is by Ty Hadman:
No enemy seen;
but I get a good look
at myself
Ty Hadman, Dong Ha Haiku
The narrator here does not see an enemy in his current field of vision, but reflects on himself and associates himself with the enemy. This soldier may feel an immense amount of guilt and shame because what he has been trained to do. Following orders may have resulted in the destruction of an entire village or the murder of a little girl and he blames himself for such occurrences.
In terms of the structure of this haiku, it flows smoothly and evenly. The way the first line is formatted with a semi-colon implies that there is a following thought that connects differently, which is true. The interjection of but immediately sets the tone for a contrasting idea. The last line concludes the haiku very well and it settles in the readers’ minds. The haiku does not leave questions unanswered and gives the reader a strong idea of what is occurring in the mind of the solider.
Similarly, another haiku written by Edward Tick sheds light on the guilt and shame that soldiers in the Vietnam War experienced. This haiku is quite similar to that of Hadman’s:
His enemy's eyes
staring into him
in the mirror
Edward Tick, The Golden Tortoise, 31
Here, like Hadman’s haiku, the enemy is himself, as clarified when the mirror is announced. Tick is able to convince the reader that the enemy is another person during the first two lines. Tick gives character to the enemy’s eyes and makes his presence know through the act of staring. But, the haiku takes a twist with the final line clarifying the presence of the mirror. The solider is clearly looking at himself and declaring himself an enemy, and this could be because of his actions during the war. The soldiers in both haiku feel shame and guilt, a common psychoanalytic theme present during combat and times of war. These haiku are significant because they describe how many soldiers felt during the Vietnam War. Both haiku reflect the pain that soldiers felt during this time and suggest that the real enemy of war is oneself.
When one is forced into combat like American soldiers in Vietnam soldiers were, innocence is taken from them. Young men who just reached the age of eighteen were sent to the jungles of Vietnam and forced to kill Vietnamese and fight for their lives. A very painful haiku in Edward Tick’s The Golden Tortoise explores the loss of innocence one experiences during combat situations:
Crying for the dead
in the temple’s cool shadow
he calls home
Edward Tick, The Golden Tortoise, 30
This haiku sets a very eerie scene, with the soldier mourning the loss of his fellow soldiers in a dark and dreary temple. “The temple’s cool shadow” creates a setting that is very still and blank, with the solider alone and in pain. The final line is what really makes this haiku powerful, with the solider calling home. After all he has seen and felt, the solider just wants to go home. He more than likely yearns for the presence of his mother. Here, it is revealed that the solider just wants his innocence back. He wants to be back home where it is safe and everything is the way it is supposed to be. Crying out for home is a very significant thing to do, and it is something many children do when they are in pain. At this point, it seems as if the soldier feels like a child again, or wants to. He may want to remove the part of his identity that is a solider because of what he has seen or had to do. Either way, the haiku sets a very sad scene revealing how combat and war has taken innocence away from soldiers.
Camaraderie and brotherhood are common feelings when one is in an uncomfortable setting. With soldiers being far away from home, they only had each other. Only one another understood the pain that is war and destruction. Soldiers formed everlasting bonds that played a significant role in their survival in Vietnam. In difficult situations, soldiers could rely on one another for support and more significantly, survival. When a solider was killed, it took a significant emotional and mental toll on the group because of the brotherhood established. In Edward Tick’s piece Sacred Mountain: Encounters with the Vietnam Beast, camaraderie and brotherhood can be seen in the following haiku:
Back at the base
I search for friends’ faces
loading body bags
Edward Tick, Sacred Mountain, 116
This haiku draws a painful picture in which the solider is literally checking body bags for the bodies of his friends. It is a very sad scene, and one can imagine the frantic nature of the search. Because of the brotherhood and connections established through the war, this solider feels the need to check the body bags for his friends, just in case they happen to be in them. The haiku is structured in a particular way, where the last line gives way to a painful experience. It is clear that this soldier has an emotional attachment to the men he has met through the Vietnam War. What is not told in this haiku is whether or not this solider has found one of his friends’ bodies. One can interpret the story and predict the soldier’s actions. When thinking about the soldier encountering a friend, the reader can imagine a scene where the solider is crying out in pain and morning the loss of one of his fellow soldiers. On the other hand, one can imagine the solider not encountering a friend and continuously stacking the bodies as his job has directed him. In either situation, the soldier is more than likely experiencing a great deal of emotions because of what he is having to do.
After the war ended or after one's tour in Vietnam ended, many soldiers had a difficult time transitioning back to normal life. Because many on the home-front were unable to fully comprehend the extent of the war, soldiers had a difficult time adjusting and relating to people. People were glorifying the war and children viewed soldiers as the ultimate heroes, defending freedom and defeating communism through machine guns and Agent Orange. However, through haiku and poetry, one can understand the struggle soldiers encountered post-fighting. In Ty Hadman’s Dong Ha Haiku, readers come across a haiku that challenges the notion of glorifying war:
The crying boy
just can’t understand why
I broke his toy machine gun
Ty Hadman, Dong Ha Haiku
The two individuals in this haiku, the solider and the young boy, have two completely different viewpoints on the war. The boy views war and shooting as a form of fun or enjoyment. He has probably heard about the excitement of the war on the radio or through what his parents have told him. But, only the solider who has been to Vietnam knows the realities of the war. The solider has held an actual gun in his hand and has had to use it more than likely on more than one occasion. The boy holds a toy gun innocently, but to the solider, the gun symbolizes much more than a weapon. It symbolizes death and destruction, pain and misery. Unfortunately, the boy cannot even begin to understand why the solider would break his toy. The soldier’s actions reveal just how difficult readjusting to post-active duty life was for so many individuals, and this haiku paints a picture of the struggle.
Another struggle soldiers faced during the Vietnam War is balancing their conflicting beliefs with their actions. Protests were very popular on the home-front during the Vietnam War with thousands of individuals marching for the cause of peace. However, some soldiers may have shared this belief even while present in Vietnam, but were legally obligated to fight because they were drafted. An example of this can be seen in Ty Hadman’s Dong Ha Haiku:
Peace symbol
and the word LOVE
on his helmet
Ty Hadman, Dong Ha Haiku
This haiku is an example of the anti-Vietnam War movement. The peace symbol became very popular during wartime and came to represent solidarity and an end to the war. It is clear that this solider is fighting on the front lines because he has a helmet, and being on the front lines, the solider has seen many painful scenes. Because of this, he may have decided to put the peace symbol and word love on his helmet. The suffering he may have experienced could have provoked this action. In terms of the mechanics of the haiku, it is very image driven and creates a strong picture in the minds’ of readers. The word choice is not significant because the haiku is image based.
As one can see, the Vietnam War was a time that tested individuals mentally, emotionally, and physically and as a way of grieving or processing, poetry and haiku became a strategy. Haiku are prime outlets for expressing pain and suffering because of the story that they can tell. In this case, the Vietnam War and the experiences of soldiers can be described using poetry and haiku. Authors like Ty Hadman and Edward Tick use the stories of soldiers to generate haiku that tell stories of grief, shame, brotherhood, and many more feelings.
Additionally, an analysis of such haiku reveals the strength of using haiku as a form of therapy. Many of these haiku tell the stories of soldiers and the experiences, but more importantly describe the inner workings. American culture is very outward based, and haiku is very much so about the inward. Using haiku as a tool of expression is something one can appreciate through Vietnam War haiku. Haiku tell stories that are difficult to tell and through the grieving process, one can find beauty. Despite how painful some of these haiku are, they are beautifully written with provocative images, and that is what makes haiku unique. Being able to find beauty amongst the pain is something haiku helps us do.
• • •
Works Cited
Hadman, Ty. Dong Ha Haiku. Kentfield: Smythe-Waithe, 1982. Print.
Tick, Edward. The Golden Tortoise. Los Angeles: Red Hen, 2005. Print.
Tick, Edward. Sacred Mountain: Encounters with the Vietnam Beast. Santa Fe: Moon Bear, 1989. Print.
|
