Analysis of Imagery in "Loving from Vietnam to Zimbabwe"
             After reading Janice Mirikitani's poem "Loving from Vietnam to Zimbabwe" there is a profound amount of imagery used by Mirikitani that explains a reality of sex, love, and war. Mirikitani uses an interesting and unique format in the way she has written her poem. The "I" that Mirikitani uses is not referring to herself but rather another woman who is Vietnamese, or many women whom are Vietnamese. She has essentially divided her poem into two sides. One side, the left side, is where she reveals images of sex and love. On the other side, the right side, is where she reveals the imagery of war. By dividing her poem into two sides, she is able to describe two conflicting issues that are part of the woman's life or at some point had an impact on her life and emotions. It seems as though Mirikitani is explaining images from Vietnam. These images of sex, love, and war that she has written in respect to, are not the sex and love that we know as Americans, but the sex and love that was prevalent during the Vietnam War. Mirikitani wrote this poem in 1980, so it is possible that, she has some repressed images and feelings about the war or war in general.
             Mirikitani begins her poem with images of sex and love. By writing this poem, she has given a voice to many women from a country torn apart by War. It is almost as if every image she has of sex is matched with an image of war. This reveals how the woman must deal with two realities. One reality is the life of a Vietnamese woman and another reality of sleeping with the enemy. These two realities seem to be conflicting with each other and it ultimately makes the Vietnamese woman feel that her situation is unresolved. Mirikitani draws the reader into the subject matter of her poem by the use of her figurative language imagery. She describes a relationship between a Vietnamese woman and an American soldier who is of color. By...