Collateral Damage

As we’ve learned about the conflict in Northern Ireland and the many troubles they face, we’ve learned about the use of home made explosive devices.  Our taxi driver in Belfast told us that the police force in the city must check their cars daily for bombs that could be strapped underneath.  The car would be fine until it hits a speed bump.  At that point the device assuming that it is not faulty would cause the car to explode and the people inside the car to die.  Car bombs are one of the popular methods of destruction that we hear about when talking about the troubles in Northern Ireland.

In Ciaran Carson’s “Belfast Confetti” we hear a man’s perspective of what happens when a car bomb goes off.  I only assume it is about a car bomb because of the line “…Nuts, bolts, nails, car-keys.  A fount of broken type.”  The line following reads “…And the explosion itself – an asterisk on the map. This hyphenated line, a burst of rapid fire …” and that explains that this was a planned attack.  I envision a map of where the car will be traveling.  The hyphenated line will show the route and the asterisk on the map will show where the car is meant to explode, killing the passengers.  The lines following show how the man is in shock of what he has just seen and he sees the aftermath.  All of the streets are blocked off and he is trapped.  He is trapped in this world of violence that he didn’t ask to be in.  At the end of the poem he questions himself and the world he lives in.  Violence changes us immediately.  The things we see and experience shape us.  I can only assume that the violence this man witnesses in Belfast has made him question himself and the world he lives in, but questioning can bring forth positive change.