“The Colonel” is a prose poem by American poet Carolyn Forche. It was originally published in 1981 in her book The Country Between Us. The poem describes an experience in which the speaker is having dinner with a member of the military in his home in El Salvador. As the poem progress, the speaker awakens to the terrors and the horrors of war.
Carolyn Forché's poetic career began when Ingenue magazine published her poem "Artisan Well" in October 1968. In January 1969 that magazine contained a feature article that Forché wrote ...
Read more
Carolyn Forché's poetry of witness, which engenders human empathy, subverts the dominant American poetic since World War II, which generally cultivates individuation. From early in her career F...
Read more