The Colonel

“Because One is Always Forgotten” by Carolyn Forché (1981)

This poem appears along with “The Colonel” in Forché’s second book of poetry, The Country Between Us. Like “The Colonel,” this poem blends journalism with literature, bearing witness to the violence and political unrest of the El Salvadoran people of the time. Unlike the prose poem, “Because One is Always Forgotten” is structured and highly literary, utilizing numerous metaphors and metrical patterns to communicate its devastating narrative. The poem exemplifies not only Forché’s thematic passions but also her technical range as a poet.

“Thinking About El Salvador” by Denise Levertov (1984)

While Forché was turning away from the myopic intimacies of Confessionalism-influenced poetry, another American poet was also writing poems that powerfully blended the personal with the political. Denise Levertov, with whom Forché is often grouped, wrote about numerous political subjects. Here, she writes powerfully against the United State’s economic intervention in El Salvador and the ways in which it contributed to the horrors that the government inflicted on its people. While “The Colonel” documents a specific experience Forché had while in El Salvador, “Thinking About El Salvador” does what the title suggests—reflects on the violence from a distance.

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