Courtney Johnson
November 1, 2010

Birdwatching In Wartime-

In Jeffery Thomson’s book Birdwatching in Wartime he unfolds his own very new way of poetry. His structure resembles that of a classic poem; they have normal stanzas and most even have the over all look of a typical poem. His style of writing is in a way a cross between a “stained glass window” style along with a “clear glass window” style. He uses rich language that unfolds to be even richer, not only in meaning but also in tone and all over feel for his text. He uses imagery, which is strong in detail, providing a vivid picture.

His book is about his real life experiences in South America, mainly including Costa Rica along with Brazil. He writes about the environment that he sees and feels. His goal is to be informative; he believes that behind everything is something else. He believes there is always something hidden. And that in order to show such an idea he needed to not only have his book be about content but also about structure. He wanted to show you that as much as his book is structured and well put together that most poems are also spinning out of control. He also brings in culture with his work, there are a lot of references with in his poems, some you already have past history on where others you need to actually look up, this not only helps refresh your knowledge it also helps you learn. One thing I really enjoyed about this read was that as much as his poems have a glance at beauty he also throws in a splash on violence. I found it rather amusing at how you can relate to totally different ideas into one.

A poem can not be just random for it would be boring, a reader needs to feel as if they are reading for a purpose and to gain something from a book, and that’s exactly the feel I got when reading this book. I think Jeffery Thomson has done a spectacular job writing this book, and after hearing him speak in class I feel very strong towards the fact that what he was trying to do with this book he succeeded to the highest.