Home-Based Learning - Task 1

"Rainbow Death" by Hubert Wilson

America did not foresee
Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!
Expecting others to pay a high price.
Now thinking twice?
Toll on the innocent and unborn.

Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.
Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.
All the deceit continues to spread.
Nefariously America led astray -
Generations untold WILL pay -
Execrable effects of agent orange spray!

Hubert Wilson was in the USAF Security service before he started writing. He fought in the Vietnam War and was sent to Shemya Island, Alaska. That area was contaminated with Agent Orange, a very poisonous and dangerous substance. Agent Orange was used by the US to chase the villagers in Vietnam to US-inhabited areas. The US sprayed millions of gallons of Agent Orange to destroy the villagers crops. Having no food to eat, the villagers are bound to flee to US-inhabited areas. After staying at the place for long, Hubert started having seve re headaches and muscles aches. The doctors could not diagnose the illness and Hubert had to bear with the pain. Hubert thus decided to write, since his brain was still working fine.

The poem, Rainbow Death, was written to remind everyone about the dangers of war. Agent Orange is just like nuclear energy, it doesn't go away easily and sticks to the water and ground. Upon drinking the contaminated water, humans would become mutated. Babies who were born might be mutated or even born dead. Even though a war might have ended, the affects of the war still lives on. Hubert wants to remind everyone to think twice before starting a war. The war will not only affect the current generation, but also the younger generation. It would be selfish to sacrifice the next generation, babies who wouldn't even born, to suffer for one's selfish decision.

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange

http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/2010warpoetry.html#Rainbow