I have written a poem that illustrates the chaotic world of those will live in Sarajevo under siege. My creation came to life with the assistance of Photoshop in order to add a few aesthetics. It is told from the perspective of someone living in Sarajevo during the siege.
I must say, I am quite satisfied with the vivid imagery expressed in my poem. However, it is slightly complicated, therefore I will elaborate on some details.
The ongoing mayhem in Sarajevo is depicted as an endless tempest. The raindrops are mortar shells and the lightning bolts are snipers.
You’ll fall from the mists of the tempest and land among roses. This represents how death is the only release from the surrounding pandemonium.
The poem mentions that the storm can be waited out in shelter, but they will eventually have to leave in order to retrieve food and water. Once you leave the shelter, you will get wet, since you do not have a rain jacket. The only way to remain dry is to avoid the rain pellets, which of course is impossible. This represents the consistent and unavoidable danger in Sarajevo. There is no protection and you are always vulnerable.
Our city has become a silhouette beneath a greater hurricane. There is a thunderstorm in Sarajevo, but the entire land is caught in a hurricane. The hurricane represents the entire Yugoslavian Crisis, which is a political disaster that is powerful, catastrophic and irrepressible. With a single city caught in this enormous eruption, there is not much that the rest of the world can do.
As the hurricane continues to gnaw at the city, the storm worsens. The wind has become screams, water has become blood and snow has become ash.
This storm has no eye. To the citizens of Sarajevo, the hurricane has no eye, thus its annihilation will cease to ever calm. This also possesses a hidden meaning, since no eye indicates the lack of external overseers. It appears, to these citizens, that nobody has acknowledged their plea for aid.
My poem paints an image of vulnerability among chaotic obliteration. The devastation of the situation only increases without any external assistance. Every day, Sarajevo’s citizens must tread into this perilous storm to retrieve necessities such as food and water. However, there are two aspects about this tempest that are the most terrifying. You do not notice rain until you are wet, and you do not hear the sound of a lightning bolt until it strikes.
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