Poetry Ch. 7 POUI (1)

"And the father wrote right back, 'Please don't write such depressing letters.'" (846)

The poem APO 96225 by Larry Rottmann contains situational irony. The poem has situational irony because the soldier is trying to protect his mother. He does not want his mother to know the horrid details of what is really going on over seas. He tries to make her think that everything is fine and it is just time away from home, when in reality he is killing people everyday. The mother thinks that she wants to know exactly what is going on in Vietnam. Ironically, she is too overcome with the truth and gets upset. I think that the irony of the poem is important because it basically describes the attitude of the American public during the war. No one wanted to admit to or recognize what was going on in Vietnam. The irony's purpose is to show the difference in sentiments from one perspective to another. I liked this poem because I understood its theme and what it was trying to get across. Also, it was more of a story than random words put into stanzas.