The Captain Asks For A Show Of Hands (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
There were poems I liked.ImaginationJesus KnewWaterForetting SomethingPulse (Hidden Bird)I thought that "Fire" & "Air" would be more powerful if they were heard as opposed to being silently read. I could picture a performance art piece with many voices reciting these lines at once.If it wasn't for the fact that the actual redacted testimonies of Abu Ghraib detanees wasn't included in the notes section I would not understand what "Seven Testimonies" were about. The testimonies themselves held much more power for me than the poems. The Captain Asks for a Show of Hands is an underwhelming and surprisingly harmless response to the American war in Iraq and the Abu Gharib prison scandal. Filled with references to pop songs and lines lifted from other poets, Nick Flynn’s second collection of poems suggests that he isn’t confident enough to stand on his own work and feels like he has to bolster his image by associating himself with other successful artists, almost like a teenager attempting to gain credibility by getting a trendy tattoo or “liking” a certain band on facebook. It’s difficult for others to take you seriously if you define yourself by things made by other people.The critical part of this collection is a series of poems Flynn created by “redacting” several testimonies given by inmates at the infamous Abu Gharib prison (the full testimonies are included in the notes for The Captain Asks for a Show of Hands). It is interesting how removing a few words can completely destroy the original message of the testimony, but because of their very nature and the intent of the author, these redacted poems cannot stand on their own, but each must be read alongside the original testimony for the message to come across. This exercise would have been more effective as a work of nonfiction on the American cover up of the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal, or maybe even a broader topic such as censorship and denial during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (and I assume Flynn would have enough material for a full work of nonfiction, as he had traveled to Turkey to meet the former Abu Gharib inmates whose testimonies are used in this collection). As they are, the poems don’t adequately explore the concept of censorship, and they don’t add anything to the testimonies of the inmates. Even so, these poems form the most powerful and immediate section of the entire book. I almost feel like all of the poems were somehow redacted and they would make more sense, or at least carry more weight, if I was allowed to read the original versions.I’m still somewhat at a loss for what Flynn intended for The Captain Asks for a Show of Hands, but whatever it was, it didn’t leave too much of an impact with me.
What do You think about The Captain Asks For A Show Of Hands (2011)?
This was amazing once I got in tune with the darkness. There is a lot of depth here.
—Steff
I won this from Goodreads and will update my review once I am done reading it!
—stonewall4ever
brilliant. One of the best books I've read this year.
—Missclaireelizabeth
