"APO 96225" Larry Rottman

In my mind, this poem was written by one of the soldiers in "The Things They Carried." It just reminds me of exactly the situation they were in. Ironically, the questions after the poem in the book verify that the title of this poem is a mailing address of the 25th Infantry Division in Vietnam. In the first stanza he leaves out all details from the war and just says "Dear Mom, sure rains a lot here." When his mother responds, she asks what it's really like, and, yet again, he avoids the truth. That cycle repeats once again. Then he finally tells her " Today I killed a man. Yesterday, I helped drop napalm on women and children." After this letter, his father writes him back and asks him not to tell his mother such depressing things. So he goes back to where he started, "Dear Mom, sure rains a lot." I love the way this poem ends. It is a great expression of the ignorance of everyone at home during war. All the people pretend to be so concerned, but when they hear the truth, they wish they hadn't.