rn to a more peaceful time, Komunyakaa returns to the days of boot camp.The harsh reality of war stares the soldiers squarely in the face, much like Komunyakaals work,"Komunyakaals speaker looks his reader in the eye and doesn't blink."4 His search back reminds him of the place where,"..we saluted thosefive pairs of bootsas the sun rose against our faces."The use of sight to express an image is a technique that continues throughout Komuntakaals work.Beginning by examining the title,"Starlight Scope Myopia", the use of sight as a vehicle to express the feelings of the work is apparent. The starlight scope is a night sight used by soldiers to seek out the enemy at night. The myopia is not the narrow view within the scope, but the inability to see theeffects of the war is the true myopia. The scope is the physical tool that aids in the killing:Gray-blue shadows liftshadows onto an oxcart.Making night work for us,the starlight scope brings,men into killing rangeThe enemy of the past is now vividly displayed in the present.Komunyakaa is able to bring his "self" into the poem to help the reader fully appreciate the scene,"Viet Congmove under our eyelids,inside our lowered headsyears after this scene." The individualism of those to be ambushed causes the soldier to begin to question,"Are they talking about womenone of them is laughingYou try reading ghost talk".They become human in his thoughts and thus create confusion in the mind of the soldier. Steven Cramer, in remarking on Komunyakaa states,"he seeks to depict the sheer confusion of war, the infantryman's chronic sense of dislocation. Sometimes the soldier's survival depends upon this absence of distinct outlines."S Thus the very confusion which causes the soldier to think aids in his survival. The unwillingness to be involved in the war accounts for the wandering mind."We Never Know" leads the reader on a journey through the mind of a soldier who remembers the movements of a man he...
