Poem Analysis: The Minefield By Diane Thiel

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The Minefield by Diane Thiel is about a man who is haunted by his past. The first half of the poem is the speaker (who we assume is Diane Theil) telling us what her father told them very non-chalantly during dinner once. He was running from one town to another with a friend and they decided to take a short cut through a field that had lettuce growing in it. His friend was faster than he was so he ran ahead. The short cut ended up being a minefield and his friend was blown up, “his body scattered across the field.” The father told them this like it didn’t even phase him anymore, “My father told us this, one night, and then continued eating dinner”, he was numb to it. Everything the father did after this, or in the last stanza, was influenced