The Colonel

Forché first published this prose poem in Women’s International Resource Exchange, a publication that focuses more on journalism than on literature. Despite the literary heft of the poem, it is presented in a journalistic context. The first line sets the stage for this focus, addressing the reader with “What you have heard is true” (Line 1). This phrase sets up what follows to be understood as a true story, and one told in the explicit context of “setting the facts straight.” The combination of straightforward observations, simple declarative sentences, and the use of the past tense can at times suggest a report.

The speaker remains in a purely observational role, simply recording and reporting as a hybrid poet-journalist. Midway through the poem, it seems she might be tempted to act, but her friend “said to [her] with his eyes: say / nothing” (Lines 15-16). Even at the tensest moments, the speaker remains a fly on the wall. The Colonel’s suggestion that his barbaric collection of “many human ears” (Line 17) will make a good detail for the speaker’s “poetry” (Line 23) directly confronts the speaker’s choice to remain only an observer. The critique highlights an ethical problem.