Poet's Choice

This house will

last forever.

You must occupy it.

And you, and you --

And you, and you --

Come, they say.

There is room

for everyone.

The two senses of the word "occupy" dramatize a psychological conflict between the need to resist authority and the conflicting demand to give in, an inner struggle forced by the outer, violent conflict.

In this language -- like the language of dreams -- the house and the foreign occupation are one. The violence of the invaders and their invitation to move into a durable new dwelling blend into one feeling. In this vision of reality, flights go down, and blood is paint -- irrational images that speak their truth about the brutal "hard work" of the soldiers. The invitation to enter an enduring house suggests the political rhetoric of the invaders. Or, do phrases such as "This house will last forever" reflect the inner, defeated rationalization of the oppressed? Either way, the poem exposes the fearsome sort of language that works to justify brutality. Imagination, too, works. Notably in poetry, but in all expressive language, it works to include all kinds and levels of truth.

(Suji Kwock Kim's poem "Occupation" is from her book "Notes from the Divided Country." Louisiana State Univ. Copyright 2003 by Suji Kwock Kim.)