APO 96225

The evident irony of APO 96225 develops the point of the horrors of war. I think Larry Rottman wrote this poem to tell readers that war is hell, and we should never have been in Vietnam or even any war for that matter. The title of this poem makes it sound like an alien abduction (since we're on the topic of alienation, i guess that came to mind), but this definitely is a poem of alienation. The son at war is alienated from the rest of society back home because he has seen and done far horrible things than people want to imagine. The son just writes to his mom some irrelevant topic which concerns his curious mother. After her pleadings, the son does tell his mother what is happening only to see his father write him back saying "don't say such things that upset your mother." At this point, the son knows his is completely separated from his family knowing that he cannot talk to them about what actually happens so he decides to go back to his original tactic of hiding his real actions. It is ironic that his mother would ask for the truth then complain about hearing it. Also, I found it interesting that the father was the one who wrote the son back not the mother because she was so distressed.