"APO 96225" by Larry Rottman

The central purpose of this poem is that honesty can be a bit much for people to handle. For instance, in this poem, a soldier is writing to his parents, telling them details about being overseas. The letters at first are vague but become more graphic due to their request. Honestly, this poem kind of how relationships are. We sugar coat things from our loved ones to protect them from the truth. Which is better? A sweet lie, or the bitter truth? The tone of the poem simply realistic. The tone is achieved by the diction. For instance, when the soldier is being honest with his parents, he says, "Today I killed a man. Yesterday, I helped drop napalm on women and children." This phrase is truly what soldiers do for our country. I don't know how they keep a positive attitude through life. Maybe this poem also has a deeper symbolism. We all try to be optimistic human beings, but the world wants us to know "truth" and "pain." Why does the world try to weezle out the pain and honesty? I'm still trying to figure this out. I'm also trying to figure out which is better: truth or pain. I believe that both are essential to life, but there is a time and place for each. Also, the sentence structure has a lot of dialect and conversation between the soldier and his family. This makes the poem more personal and informal.