Turner and Komunyakaa

Both Turner and Komunyakaa use very metaphorical imagery in their poems. For me, this made the poems more deep and complex. For example, in “2000 lbs.” when Turner is describing the suicide bomber, he writes, “he is everywhere, he is of all things,/ his touch is the air taken in, the blast/ and wave, the electricity of shock,/ his is the sound the heart makes quick/ in the panic’s rush...” To me, this speaks to how the bombing has not only an immense physical impact, but also causes psychological or emotional destruction as Turner speaks of the feelings of shock and panic and a fast heartbeat. Similarly, in “Camouflaging the Chimera” Komunyakaa uses heavy, emotionally loaded imagery. He writes, “We weren’t there. The river ran/ through our bones. Small animals took refuge/ against our bodies; we held our breath,/ ready to spring the L-shaped/ ambush, as a world revolved/ under each man’s eyelid”. These lines relay the confusion or uncertainty that can be caused by the darkness of night. To me it seems that the pressure or anxiety is so great that each man is almost beside himself before the ambush in silence with tons of stuff going through their minds. Komunyakaa also describes the utter stillness in a very interesting way. By saying they weren’t there, that the river ran through them, and that they held their breath, I gather that they move so little that even nature does not notice them and their bodies don’t even move up and down from breathing. Both poets speak of things in a way that gives what could just be a simple statement much more meaning.