Home Learning Task 1

Rainbow Death

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!

This poem is about America making use of a poisonous substance, "Agent Orange". The poet is saying that America used the Agent Orange, in a bid to make the enemy in the war suffer, but in the end, it backfired and the Agent Orange was used against herself. In the end, both sides of the war gets affected and it causes negative impacts, like how Agents "Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri". This Agent Orange affects not only the generation itself but the future generations as well, when he said that "generations untold will pay". In this poem, the poet, Hubert Wilson, is trying to say that in war, it causes great damage and the damage will never be only to one side, but to both sides. And when the damage is done, it does not only affect on generation, but the damage can carry on for many subsequent generations. The conflict depicted in this poem would be how America's plan backfired and caused great harm to herself, being "nefariously... led astray", and how the damage done will carry on to subsequent generations. This conflict shows that there will always be damage done to both sides involved in a war and that a war is not over even when it is over because the damages of a war will carry on even after the war has ended.

Now, to understand better what the poem actually means and why the poet would write this, we have to first look at his background information.

He is a Vietnam War veteran who served in the USAF Security Service. He, along with many others, prepped for about 14 months at Kelly AFB in San Antonio, Texas, before anticipating being sent to Vietnam or elsewhere in Southeast Asia in 1970. About half ended up in Da Nang (an Agent Orange hotspot) in the 6924th Security Squadron. The rest of them were assigned to Shemya Island, Alaska, with the 6984th Security Squadron, a more contaminated environment than Da Nang.

His health problems started with unexplained headaches and limb pains. His central nervous system radically deteriorated with Parkinson type tremors, severe headaches, progressive limb pains, etc. No physician has ever diagnosed the specific illness. His number one educated guess is the heavily contaminated drinking water at Shemya during his year there as an intelligence analyst. Organo-phosphate toxins may not run their toxic course until 20 to 30 years after initial exposure.

According to Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange, resulting in 400,000 deaths and disabilities, and 500,000 children born with birth defects.

From 1962 to 1971, Agent Orange was by far the most widely used of the so-called "Rainbow Herbicides" employed in the herbicidal warfare program. During the production of Agent Orange (as well as Agents Purple, Pink, and Green) dioxins were produced as a contaminant, which have caused numerous health problems for the millions of people who have been exposed.

Hence, this poem was written because he personally experienced the feeling of being attacked by Agent Orange and how it could affect not only the original target, but you yourself as well. He is aware of these harmful consequences of war and hopes that war will stop because it will affect the subsequent generations as well. The title suggests how harmful war can be, causing "Death". "Rainbow" symbolises Agent Orange, Purple, Pink, Green, etc. These agents are what caused the death and harmful consequences of many, and the poet is showing that war is harmful and it never ends when it ends because the damage will carry on even after the war.