Amichai “The Diameter of the Bomb”

How does the poet bear witness to tragedy or more difficult aspects of human life? E.g. in Amichai’s case, the most obvious example is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; in Walcott’s, it’s the long aftermath of imperialism, colonialism, and racism on the Caribbean.

In the poem “The Diameter of the Bomb,” Yehuda Amichai expresses the impact of war. War may be a temporary event that takes place for a certain time period, but Amichai observes the it is an endless impact that affects humanity. At the beginning of the poem, Amichai simply describes a bomb in a detached, mechanical manner by stating the statistics of the bomb being “thirty centimeters” with a range of about “seven meters/with four dead and eleven wounded.” These statistics undermines the capacity of the bomb and makes it seem almost harmless as it further elaborates the limited casualties that it caused. However, Amichai’s past experience with war gives him a deeper perspective of what the true aftermath is. The poem then proceed to talk  about a young woman being killed despite being “more than a hundred kilometers” away. The extensive impact of the bomb is not what it seems and extends further than expected. This seemingly implies that the circle of impact is gradually expanding, further spreading the grieving and pain caused by the war. This implies that people and places are connected and it will impact everyone in some way. Amichai also present the harsh facts and the paints the heart wrenching situation that is caused by the war with descriptions of the emotional loss of the man and the cries of orphans. In addition, the constant repetition of the word “circles” emphasizes the ongoing, endless cycle of pain and suffering from the war. With the description of the horrific aftermath derived from the actions of humankind, Amichai brings up the question of whether war is really worth the pain and loss that consumes the living.