War Photographer

• 'suffering set out in ordered rows'


  Inevitability of war

  Orderliness of the film camera reels are compared to the gravestones in a graveyard
• 'light is red' 


  Violent and angry settings

  Refers to the film making process even further
• 'priest preparing to intone a Mass' 


  Biblical allusion linking to funerals
• 'All flesh is grass'


  Nature overtaking

  Shows the abnormal amount of death due to war
• 'He has a job to do' 'to do what someone must'


  'Has' implies that he has no choice

  Job could have a double meaning of him getting paid for his work and that it is his job to inform people of the atrocities happening in the world
• 'hands which did not tremble then'


  Signs of PTSD due to the constant shaking of his hands
• 'fields which don't explode beneath the feet'


  Unpredictable nature of war and unpredictable consequences for individuals
• 'A stranger's features faintly start to twist before his eyes'


  Could be reflective of the self change he is undergoing as a direct consequence of the traumatic experiences he has endured

  'Stranger' could imply that he does not recognise himself anymore
• 'a hundred agonies in black and white'


  'Agonies' becomes symbolic of physical photos

  Images of suffering run throughout the poem however are most literally here
• 'editor'


  Potential corruption amongst those in power as the things that the public sees have been edited to villainise the wrong people?

  Editing process of making photos?
• 'From the aeroplane he stares impassively at where he earns his living and they do not care'


  He bares witness to the destruction first hand and cannot escape it whereas the normal citizens will see it in the newspaper and turn the page to look at something more interesting

  'They do not care'