The Minefield

October 8, 2016

I absolutely love the poem "The Minefield" by Diane Thiel. It is a three stanza poem; the first stanza is made up nine lines, the second stanza is made up one sentence in two lines, and the third stanza is made up of twelve lines. Diane wrote "The Minefield" in 1967, in which I believe the poem symbolizes her father telling them stories of when he was a little boy during a significant war, such as World War I, that occurred during his childhood.

The first stanza talks about the father telling the story of him and his best friend running from town to town and they were in need of getting somewhere quick, which was why they were going to take the short cut his friend suggested. The father was slower than the friend, so as they entered the field the friend was way ahead of the father. When the friend looked back to see if his friend was following a land mine went off and scatted his limbs all across the field.

The second stanza is extremely short, but also very important because it speaks of a time in the father's life where he had lost his best friend due to uncontrollable outside forces. In this sentence you can sense the sorrow the father feels towards the loss of his best friend. Also, this tells you the conversation is casual memory.

The third stanza hints toward a 'He' who brought this upon the land. I believe the 'He' is more than likely a country that has invaded the father's country. The poem discusses how powerful the country is and how it is able to destroy anything in their path, including innocent people's lives. In the last sentence when it talks about how he would have never have guessed that he would have to run back alone with the memory of ice best friend scattered across the field in front of him.