Rainbow Death

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!

Hubert Wilson

Background

This poem speaks of the modern implications of the ingredients of warfare that has caused appalling death and suffering not only to its intended victims, but also to the personnel who handled the "Agent Orange"

“Agent Orange is the code name for a herbicide and defoliant—contaminated with TCDD—used by the U.S. military in its Herbicidal Warfare program during the Vietnam War.

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. Agents Blue and White were part of the same program but did not contain dioxins.”

Through this poem, Hubert Wilson tries to tell us that wars have dire consequences and it does not end when it ends, its effects affecting people many generations later.

The point of view of this poem is from that of the poet. He himself was a Vietnam war Veteran and was affected by the contaminants. However, this could also be written from the point of view of a villager. As a villager, the person would have personally encountered everything and seen the toll on the innocent and unborn and the defects that they suffered.

America probably intended to make these contaminants a weapon of war by poisoning the enemy's drinking water and thus killing the opposition without casualties of their own.They probably did not expect to accidentally contaminate the rivers and the main water source. Either that or the need for winning was too great and they were willing to sacrifice their own people to achieve it.

In a nutshell, this poem depicts the sadness and destruction of war that extends even after the war has ended. The readers can feel the pain of the families who had disfigured children and many even die from this as the poison slowly tortures them to death. This also shows the inhumane side of humans, how they are willing to do anything and everything to win. This shows how America sacrificed others and even its own soldiers to win the war which is ironic as a war is fought by a country to protect its people.