Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Carolyn Forché's poem "The Ghost of Heaven" is a haunting and poignant meditation on memory, trauma, and the transcendent nature of human suffering. Through vivid and often harrowing imagery, Forché explores the intersection of personal and collective history, weaving a narrative that spans across time and space to confront the ghosts of the past.

The poem begins with the line "Sleep to sleep through thirty years of night," evoking a sense of prolonged darkness and unconsciousness. This sets the stage for a journey into a past marked by loss and searching. The child with child, a symbol of innocence and continuity, is juxtaposed with the stark imagery of bones, a spine picked clean, and a skull with hair. These remnants of life, still bearing traces of their former selves, suggest a haunting presence that lingers in the memory.

Forché's invocation of "Fire" and the "God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob" places the poem within a biblical context, invoking themes of faith, destruction, and divine justice. The rejection of a "God not of philosophers or scholars" underscores the poem's focus on lived, visceral experience over abstract thought.

The recurring motif of night to night and the child walking through burning maize over clean bones underscores the cyclical nature of trauma and the enduring presence of the dead. The zopilotes, or vultures, lifting flesh into heaven, symbolize a grim ascension, a journey of the soul mediated by the natural world.

The ghostly figure of the woman, rising from where she was found, holding her arms as if asleep, embodies the lingering presence of the dead. Her image as a "ghost in heaven" carrying her arms in her arms is a powerful symbol of both resilience and the indelible mark of trauma.

Forché interweaves scenes of daily life and survival, such as blue smoke from corn cribs and the flap of wings, with stark, almost surreal images of initials on city walls and a fire-lit river leading to a burning house. These scenes highlight the juxtaposition of normalcy and horror, capturing the fragmented nature of memory and the way trauma imprints itself on both the individual and the landscape.

The list of supplies needed—penicillin, surgical tape, a whetstone, mosquito repellent, and more—grounds the poem in the practical realities of survival and care in the aftermath of violence. The mention of a "bottle of cloud for anesthesia" adds a surreal, almost mystical element to the practical needs, suggesting a desire for escape and relief from pain.

The poem delves into the brutality of human conflict, with the leech leaving a "small volcano" on the flesh and the horrifying discovery of the girl with a man's severed head where a child would have been. These images are stark reminders of the ways in which violence and trauma are inscribed on the body and memory.

The poem's closing lines, with the settling of wind in sorghum and the plea to talk if captured, emphasize the importance of bearing witness and the inevitable confrontation with identity and existence. The final exhortation to "open your curtain of spirit" suggests a call to transcendence and the need to confront and integrate the ghosts of the past into one's understanding of the self.

"The Ghost of Heaven" by Carolyn Forché is a powerful exploration of memory, trauma, and the resilience of the human spirit. Through its vivid imagery and poignant narrative, the poem captures the complexity of suffering and the enduring presence of the past, inviting readers to reflect on their own histories and the ways in which they shape their identities.

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