Dien Cai Dau (Wesleyan Poetry Series) [Paperback]

Yusef. Komunyakaa (Author)

Book Description

Series: Wesleyan Poetry Series | Publication Date: September 15, 1988

Poetry that precisely conjures images of the war in Vietnam by an award-winning author.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"So finely tuned are Komunyakaa's images, so faultless his vision, that the reader sees precisely what the poet recalls . . . A powerful must-read for those who have forgotten those days"--Booklist

"Komunyakaa makes a major contribution to the body of literature grappling with Vietnam --a poetry that pierces the artificial border between moral and aesthetic engagement."--Poetry

Review

"The best writing we've had from the long war in Vietnam has been prose so far. Yusef Komunyakaa's Dien Cai Dau changes that." (William Matthews )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 72 pages
• Publisher: Wesleyan; 1st edition (September 15, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0819511641
• ISBN-13: 978-0819511645
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #92,993 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible Images, Wonderful Words, December 31, 1999

By 

Megan K. Moore (Illinois) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dien Cai Dau (Wesleyan Poetry Series) (Paperback)

I read this book of poems for the first time in a literary analysis class in college. I hadn't really enjoyed or understood poetry up to that point and certainly didn't imagine it would be something that I would want to focus my studies on. This collection blew me away. I ended up doing my honors thesis on Vietnam War Poetry, using this book as a standard by which I judged others. Most war poetry is very boring because it represents a heroic look back in attempt to glorify war. This book is nothing like that it is an incredible adventure into the realities of war and its effects on the psyche. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK AND ANYTHING ELSE BY KOMUNYAKAA. He is an incredible poet. I would also highly recommend the works of BRUCE WEIGL. I wrote of his work in my thesis as well. They are both incredible writers.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Komunyakaa's imagery brings to life the Vietnam War, April 29, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Dien Cai Dau (Wesleyan Poetry Series) (Hardcover)

Yusef Komunyakaa is the kind of poet that wins people over with his honesty. I agree with Adam from Mercer Island when he says that "This is powerful poetry, so much that when I read it I feel like I'm there, watching him and the surroundings that he witnessed in his mind so well." The most impressive aspect of Komunyakaa's poetry is his ability to create realistic visual images within the mind of the reader. The poet does, as Adam from Mercer Island mentioned, make the reader feel as if they are a part of the moment. The connection created allows the reader to fully understand the depth of meaning in each poem. There are several poems within Dien Cai Dau that accurately depict this concept.
The poem "A Greenness Taller Than Gods" is an excellent example of Komunyakaa's use of imagery. The poem begins with, "When we stop,/a green snake starts again/through deep branches./Spiders mend webs we marched into./Monkeys jabber in flame trees,/" (1-5) It is evident from the opening lines that Komunyakaa has a talent for creating visual images. It is like the reader is there with his platoon marching through the jungle and taking orders from the point man. In each of his poems, Komunyakaa also shows the fragile side of the soldiers. In "A Greenness Taller Than Gods", the speaker conveys this fragility by voicing the fears of the soldier. Lines 9-12 state, "The lieutenant puts on sunglasses/& points to an X circled/on his map. When will we learn/to move like trees moves?". The soldier struggles to move like trees knowing full well that it is not possible to do so. The reader gets the idea that the soldiers attempted to do many things that verged on impossible, which causes the reader to sympathize with their situation. Another poem that causes the reader to sympathize with the speaker of the poem is "You and I are Disappearing".
In "You and I are Disappearing", the poet is describing a scene that most people would never want to see in their lifetime. The opening lines state, "The cry I bring down from the hills/belongs to a girl still burning/inside my head. At daybreak/she burns like a piece of paper." (1-4). The visual image created here is vivid, although disturbing. The poet goes on to use several similes to further describe the state of the burning girl. The picture that is painted in the mind of the reader is graphic and forces the reader to understand what the soldiers of Vietnam had to witness and take part in. The poem is a successful attempt at portraying the depravity of the Vietnam War.
Along with Adam from Mercer Island, I too enjoyed the poem "Thanks". This poem creates some very realistic visual images and makes the reader think long and hard about luck and fate. The speaker of the poem is a soldier who is thanking whomever was responsible for him living through the war. Although I agree with Adam from Mercer Island in that the poem is touching, I do not see how it would be heartbreaking. I believe that the overall feel of the poem is encouraging. It makes the reader feel like there is always someone or something watching out for those that we care about when they are at war. I think that "Thanks" is one of the most uplifting poems in the entire book.
Other than the visual images that Komunayaa creates, another strong aspect to his poetry is the way in which he looks at war. As Adam from Mercer Island describes, "He [Komunyakaa] talks about the soldier's main preoccupation: women, home, warm smiles, grenades, RPG's, and dying-of course.". In the poem "Between Days", the poet speaks of a mother whose son has died in the war. The woman does not want to face the fact that she has lost her son, therefore she pretends like he is still going to come home. This aspect of war, the ones left behind, is not a popular subject for war poetry. The poem is such an accurate portrayal of the things that mothers must feel when they lose their sons in battle. The heartbreak is so hard to bear that they just avoid the situation all together. The poet depicts the scene in lines 6-13 by saying, "The room is just as he left it/fourteen years ago, everything/freshly dusted and polished/with lemon oil. The uncashed/death check from Uncle Sam/marks a passage in the Bible/on the dresser, next to the photo/staring out through the window.". Komunyakaa portrays the woman as holding on when war is thought to be about letting go. The woman is faithful to her son even after fourteen years and the situation is both encouraging and heartbreaking. Encouraging in the sense that the woman is still willing to wait for her son and won't cash his death check, but heartbreaking in that the reader knows that one day she is going to have to face the fact that her son is gone.
Komunyakaa's poetry is inspiring. He takes war and puts it into images and concepts that even someone who has never and will never experience war can relate to.
Each poem takes a different look at the Vietnam War, or just war in general, which allows the reader to better understand the situations and feelings that come with fighting in a war. Komunyakaa is an excellent poet and truly has a gift for connecting to his audience. Dien Cai Dau is a powerful book of poetry that uses imagery to connect the reader to the speaker in each poem which, in turn, will bring a new understanding of the Vietnam War to anyone who reads it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an emotional depiction of vietnam., March 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Dien Cai Dau (Wesleyan Poetry Series) (Paperback)

When I was nam I never really examined much of my emotions consciencly. It was not until I got back, where I realized the scares it had left. Thank you for showing me your scars.