The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner
             Due to the grim title of this poem one can determine the subject matter of the piece fairly accurately. It would seem that the author of this poem is trying to convey to the reader about the absolute horror of war. The entire verse is filled with vivid visual imagery that the author most defiantly placed within the writing to enhance the vision of the deadly scenario. The poem was written in free verse, the author probably decided to write in this style in order to be more open ended with the language that he put to use.
             The author makes good use of the poetic device synaesthesia when he writes, "from my mother's sleep". This is not meant to literally be taken as his mothers sleep but it could be interpreted that he was in a deep and relaxing dreamlike state. Yet another good usage of a poetic device is when the author writes, "And I hunched in its belly". This is a metaphor because the sphere-like shape of the ball turret is being compared to a human's belly. Finally, the author skillfully applies the technique, connotation to the poem by stating, "I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters". To show his feelings about his murderers, he describes them as "nightmare". This adds all of the devilish connotations of such a negative word to the harbinger of violent death that the enemy fighters represent.
             What makes this poem powerful is the dramatic yet blunt tone that the ball turret gunner's sudden death is described with. This allows the reader to feel all of the emotions that the expired gunner felt in his last moments of existence.
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