It was interesting that the poem gave the exact numbers of people died.
The way of poet depicting the situation right after the bombing was quite grotesque and realistic to me. I think he showed the people suffering from pain by depicting their wounds and the dead bodies, which are definetely gross.

I found this poem the most interesting because of the content of the poem and what it is about. The poem is about a boy and father who is brought to the High Plateau where The Green Beret threatens to kill the boy's father if the boy does not tell them what he knows. The Green Berets are The United States Army Special Forces. I think this poem is based in the Vietnam War in 1955-1975. The boy is on the opposing side from the US Forces which might have been the Vietnam Cong. The Green Berets want to know where the Viet Cong forces are hidden so they are trying to get this information out of the boy by threatening to kill his father. As the boy does not tell the Green Beret any information, they (The Green Berets) kill the father. After this, a mercenary thinks that the boy knows nothing and shows empathy, "'He didn't know a damn thing, we killed the old guy for nothing'". However, after this, Thein states that the boy does not everything about where the Vietnam Cong forces are hidden and he knows every thing about them. "And the boy knew everything." This conveys a sense of suspense and/or revealing. The reader now get the impression that the boy is more cunning and secretive than what the first impression of him was. I really like this because it gives a twist to the poem. "Protected by frail tears, Far stronger than any wall of steel." This conveys two very contrasting element as he states that the tears are frail but still extremely strong. I find the end of the poem a bit confusing as Thein states this. At the end of the poem, The Green Berets are compared to tigers.

I found this the most interesting because the message in the poem is very clear and simple and even lyrical. This poem is also very short as it only has 17 lines and 4 stanzas but it describes the horrors and the countless deaths of soldiers and civilians very well.
On the other hand the poem describes a man walking in the middle of a war zone surrounded by dead bodies and wreckage. The narrator appears to be alone and is filled with sorrow as he witnesses the bodies. As the poem expresses personal emotions it really makes me understand how the actual atmosphere must've been like.

In a village the Green Beret troops meet the boy, they believed that the boy knows where the Vietnamese were hiding, “a good fright will make him talk.” they attempt to threatened the boy by killing his father, however, no matter what the green beret troops said or did, the boy said nothing, eventually, the green beret troops killed the father. “ the boy cried out” “crouched down and shook with tears” suggest the extreme pain of losing his father, but he said nothing. The Green Beret troops finally believed that the boy knows nothing and went away. “and the boy knew everything”, “He knew everything about them” suddenly twisted the whole story, it suggest that they boy actually knows everything about the Vietnamese troops, where they were hiding, what their names were, but even the soldiers killed the boy’s father, bearing the extreme pain, he would still protect the troops, which suggest even as his father die. their spirit and sacrifice would remain unaffected.