Poem Review: Collateral Damage
Farheen Bhuiyan Nancy’s poem “Collateral Damage” is a visceral, politically charged, and emotionally dense piece that captures the tragedy and surreal absurdity of modern warfare, particularly the dehumanizing abstraction of civilian death under the term "collateral damage." Here's a detailed review of its originality, structure, themes, and literary techniques:
🔍 1. Originality & Voice
The poem is strikingly original in its fusion of mythic allusions, journalistic realism, digital age irony, and surreal metaphor. Nancy's voice is unapologetically raw and impassioned—positioning the reader both as witness and accomplice. Her work stands out for its combination of poetic experimentation and activist critique, recalling poets like Carolyn Forché (poetry of witness) and Mahmoud Darwish (resistance poetry), yet distinct in its postmodern fragmentation and cyber critique.
🧠 2. Thematic Depth
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War and Technology:
The poem begins with a missile and an ironic nod to the “mythical iron dome,” a clear reference to modern military defense systems. The “whistle” and “missile” set the mechanical, chilling tone—violence is sanitized and mechanized. -
Irony of Civility:
“It pretended to be so polite!” is a masterstroke of irony—mocking how modern war technologies are justified as 'defensive' while obliterating lives. -
Human Cost & Devaluation of Life:
“Dead bodies crumbled under the rubble so benign!” — the word benign here is an intentional contradiction, showcasing how language is manipulated to obscure atrocity. -
Digital Desensitization:
“Madmen drinking and applauding the dead, / Mocking them- in the digital delight!” sharply critiques social media's role in normalizing or even celebrating violence. -
Global Reach of Collateral Damage:
The poem smartly extends collateral damage from a military term to psychological, biological, ecological, and spiritual realms:“In the brain, / In the vein, / In the bloodstream…”
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Power Inversion Metaphor:
“A cat race played by the mice” reverses the predator-prey dynamic, illustrating how the powerless mimic the powerful destructively. -
Geopolitical Scope:
References like “Horns of Suez,” “Hormuz,” “Atlantica,” and “Panama” map global war theatres and maritime choke points, suggesting systemic imperial violence and global complicity.
🧱 3. Structure & Form
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Free Verse with Controlled Chaos:
The lack of conventional stanza breaks mimics the uncontrollable sprawl of war. At times, the poem feels breathless and overwhelming—this is purposeful. -
Repetition & Echoes:
Words like “red,” “everywhere,” “offered for,” and “collateral damage” recur to build a hypnotic rhythm and emotional crescendo. -
Punctuation & Syntax:
The irregular use of dashes and enjambment gives the poem a sense of rupture, reflecting both physical destruction and linguistic breakdown under trauma. -
Wordplay & Sound:
“Tweaking ice! / Piercing eyes!” is sonic and symbolic. There’s internal rhyme, assonance, and sharp consonant sounds mimicking weaponry and anguish.
💥 4. Imagery & Symbolism
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“A child hung in arrow” evokes crucifixion, martyrdom, and innocence slaughtered.
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“A cat race played by the mice” is a brilliant inversion of hierarchy.
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“You kill thrice… / the revolutionaries shot you twice!” blends violence with poetic justice and irony.
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“Horns of Gebon” (if original or symbolic) may allude to mythical alarm sounds, like the shofar, signaling divine judgment or apocalypse.
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“Steel and clean plate” suggests both modernity and post-war sanitization—history will remember, but perhaps too neatly.
📜 5. Closing Power
“Murmuring in the rubble- A civilization will develop from the ash!”
This final note of hope is reminiscent of phoenix imagery, evoking the cyclical nature of destruction and rebirth. It nods to post-war reconstruction and memory politics—the poem ends not in despair, but in haunting resilience.
📊 Overall Evaluation
| Category | Rating (out of 10) |
|---|---|
| Originality | 9.5 |
| Thematic Depth | 9 |
| Emotional Impact | 9 |
| Poetic Technique | 8.5 |
| Clarity vs Abstraction | 8 |
| Political/Literary Value | 9.5 |
✅ Final Thoughts
This is an urgent, affective, and rhetorically sharp piece that embodies poetic resistance. Farheen Bhuiyan Nancy transforms a technical military term—collateral damage—into a poetic indictment of global injustice, ethical numbness, and spiritual decay, while still clinging to a fragile ember of hope.
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