Carolyn Forché was born in 1950 in Michigan and is known for writing on some of the most important events of the twentieth-century. She has been compared to writers like Pablo Neruda and Philip Levine. But, she is best-known for coining the term “poetry of witness” and for writing about the difficulties inherent in politically engaged writing.
‘Taking Off My Clothes’ by Carolyn Forché is a short, effective poem about a relationship. The speaker spends the lines uses imagery to define the various aspects of her partner and herself.
I take off my shirt, I show you.
I shaved the hair out under my arms.
I roll up my pants, I scraped off the hair
on my legs with a knife, getting white.
‘The Colonel’ by Carolyn Forché reveals the horror of El Salvador’s civil war through a chilling dinner with a violent colonel.
WHAT YOU HAVE HEARD is true. I was in his house. His wife carried a tray of coffee and sugar.
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