Civil War Photograph

http://poems.com/poem.php?date=14977

I was instantly drawn to this poem. The first thought I had was that it was similar to a found poem but with a found picture. It offered more poetic freedom as you can choose to describe the painting a certain way but it still gave me the ability to visualize what was happening in the photo.
"Flesh and blood turn mathematic." The most powerful line was the first. It is the only line that is not enjambed or has a caesura. I made it seem that this is the only thing that the poet is sure about and it is the most important thing about this picture. While it is the thing the author is sure about, it is also the most opinionated line in the poem. The poem is an illustration of how someone would usually view a photo. When you look at a picture for the first time, something catches your eye instantly, the main premise of the photograph which explains why the first line is not enjambed and powerful because that is the overall effect of the photo. Then after knowing the general idea of the photograph, you start to list the details. In the rest of the poem, the poet describes the photo in more of a continuous thought through the use of enjambment across every stanza and a caesura in almost every line. It causes the reader to continue to depict the photograph as the writer continues to view the photograph. The poem also uses a lot of technical photography terminology, but it also refers to the first line. A lot of the poem is technical versus emotional or "flesh and blood" versus "mathematic." While the war should evoke a lot of emotion of pain and torture, the poet decides to use very objective descriptions which allow the reader to make subjective interpretations. With the first line, you read the poem with some tug of emotion and even though he only uses observations in the rest of the poem, it is easy to see what he should be focusing on in the photograph- the flesh and blood instead of the mathematic.

The Insomniac's Love Song

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I hesitate to enter
deep into the realm where I fear to creep.

I know that if I let you seep
into my mind, as rent or
Keep, I will fall down to sleep

And you will then slowly peep
here and there as the inventor
of the realm where I fear to creep.

I will tape my eyelids open steep
to avoid you, the dissenter.
Now I lay me down to sleep,

I refuse the sheep
Numbered in the center,
Deep in the realm where I fear to creep.

For if I do let myself sleep or weep
the sound would not reach you till winter.
Now I lay me down to sleep,
Cuddled in the realm where I feared to creep.