All the Broken Pieces by Ann E. Burg

Summary of All the Broken Pieces Two years after being airlifted out of war-torn Vietnam, Matt Pin is haunted — by bombs that fell like dead crows, by smoke and death, by the brother (and the terrible secret) he left behind. Now in a loving adoptive home in the United States, over the course of a baseball season, a series of profound events forces him to confront his past, and slowly, sometimes painfully, heal. By turns harrowing, dreamlike, sad, and triumphant, this searing novel in verse reveals an unforgettable and little-seen perspective on the Vietnam War and its survivors. (Scholastic)

To me, he is nothing. If he stumbled on me now, I wonder, would he see himself in my eyes? And I? Would I recognize the dragon who went beyond the mountain and never came back? My name is Matt Pin and her name, I remember, is Phang My. His name I will never say, though forever I carry his blood in my blood, forever his bones stretch in my bones.

I carry her too, her blood in my blood, her bones in my bones. Eyes I will not forget, though I see them only in dreams, in fog, through thick clouds of smoke. I hear her voice, thin, shrill staccato notes, her words short puffs of air that push me along, inch by inch, breath by breath. In choking mist and wailing dust, through sounds of whirring helicopters and open prayers, I hear her. You cannot stay here, she says. Here you will be like dust. Bui Doi. Dust of life. You cannot stay here.

I remember little, but I remember. There were babies crying and mothers screaming, begging soldiers to take their children. Take her, take him. Please let them live! Pushing, praying, pleading. I would rather be dust on the road than leave her. But it is not enough. She pushes me forward, through screaming madness and choking dust, through fear and fog, through smoke and death, through whirring sounds of helicopter prayers, and night falling like rain-soaked stars. Survive, she says. Remember not this shame. (Page 1-4)

Extension 1. What is an example of alliteration in this poem? 2. What is the effect of the repetition of “through” in this stanza: She pushes me forward, / through screaming madness / and choking dust, / through fear and fog, / through smoke and death, / through whirring sounds / of helicopter prayers. 3. What is the author’s attitude toward his mother? What evidence supports that? 4. What figurative language or poetic devices are at work here? “I hear her voice, / thin, shrill staccato notes, / her words short puffs of air / that push me along, / inch by inch, breath by breath.” 5. The author uses several phrases containing a participle and noun combination where the present participle acts as an adjective: choking mist, wailing dust, whirring helicopters. Write a five line poem composed exclusively of those phrases. Describe a place or experience.