Jerusalem

Jerusalem by Nye is a poem filled with little anecdotes of stories of her father’s life back in the Middle East. Nye shares theses stories as a way to begin to describe what it is like to live through a war in which no single individual is to blame. Due to the long term of span of this great war, life for every citizen is greatly affected. Sometimes it’s easier to accept life’s great turmoil’s because it is viewed as the way life is “suppose to be”.  Trying to undo life’s injustices is something that Nye’s father had to struggle with on a day to day basis.

            Nye starts with a story of her father being hit in the head by a rock thrown by a neighborhood boy. It is apparent that through the text that Nye’s father had nothing to provoke this violence. When said neighborhood boy was asked later what his reasoning was, he only said that he was aiming at the bird.  Nye says that this story is a riddle. There is no bird, only grave unsettled issues in two countries.   

Once when my father was a boy

a stone hit him on the head.

Hair would never grow there.

Our fingers found the tender spot

and its riddle: the boy who has fallen

stands up…..

Later his friend who threw the stone

says he was aiming at a bird.

And my father starts growing wings.

    I truly enjoyed this poem for one reason. Because at the end after you see that Nye’s father had no choice but to except that the rock being thrown was just a random act of violence, that Nye then says, “and my father starts growing wings.” It’s a form of slight acceptance in a world that really isn’t accepting.