Snapshot of Hué: Daniel Halpern

They are riding bicycles on the other side
of the Perfume River.

A few months ago the bridges were down
and there was no one on the streets.

There were the telling piles on corners,
debris that contained a little of everything.

There was nothing not under cover-
even the sky remained impenetrable

dat after day. And if you were seen
on the riverbank you were knocked down.

it is clear today. The litter in the streets
has been swept away. It couldn't have been

that bad, one of us saidm the river barely moving,
the bicycles barely moving, the sun posted above.


What i really like about Halpern's works is that he uses a lot of detail to create an image of what he is portraying through his ideas. Halpern wrote this poem in 1945 which is the time that Hué stopped being the national capital of Vietnam and a Communist government was established in the north. Halpern is trying to create the image of this city in Vietnam during a time of great conflict and is capturing the feeling of a somewhat deserted city and it's erie feeling.
In the beginning of the poem, Halpern describes the city as a fortified and deserted place. He also described what might happen if someone were to walk around in the city. At the end of the poem, he then describes how the city is cleaned up but the movement in the city is still very slow. I really like how Halpern created a picture for me and allowed me to somewhat play a story out in my head of the hostility of the city before and the peacefullness that it brings now