PLEASEEE HELPP! POETRY ANALYSIS?

Question

In the poem 'A Buddha In The Woodpile' by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, how does the poem illustrate human behavior and people's control, or lack of control of how they behave? Thank you soo muchh to anyone who can help! (: And the first sorta decent answer gets Best Answer! (:

A BUDDHA IN THE WOODPILE
by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
If there had been only
one Buddhist in the woodpile
in Waco Texas
to teach us how to sit still
one saffron Buddhist in the back rooms
just one Tibetan lama
just one Taoist
just one Zen
just one Thomas Merton Trappist
just one saint in the wilderness
of Waco USA
If there had been only one
calm little Gandhi
in a white sheet or suit
one not-so-silent partner
who at the last moment shouted Wait
If there had been just one
majority of one
in the lotus position
in the inner sanctum
who bowed his shaved head to the
Chief of All Police
and raised his hands in a mudra
and chanted the Great Paramita Sutra
the Diamond Sutra
the Lotus Sutra
If there had somehow been
just one Gandhian spinner
with Brian Willson
at the gates of the White House
at the Gates of Eden
then it wouldn't have been
Vietnam once again
and its "One two three four
What're we waitin' for?"
If one single ray of the light
of the Dalai Lama
when he visited this land
had penetrated somehow
the Land of the Brave
where the lion never
lies down with the lamb--
But not a glimmer got through
The Security screened it out
screened out the Buddha
and his not-so-crazy wisdom
If only in the land of Sam Houston
if only in the land of the Alamo
if only in Wacoland USA
if only in Reno
if only on CNN CBS NBC
one had comprehended
one single syllable
of the Gautama Buddha
of the young Siddhartha
one single whisper of
Gandhi's spinning wheel
one lost syllable
of Martin Luther King
or of the Early Christians
or of Mother Teresa
or Thoreau or Whitman or Allen Ginsberg
or of the millions in America tuned to them
If the inner ears of the inner sanctums
had only been half open
to any vibrations except
those of the national security state
and had only been attuned
to the sound of one hand clapping
and not one hand punching
Then that sick cult and its children
might still be breathing
the free American air
of the First Amendment

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

This poem refers to the U.S. government's attack on the Branch Davidian sect outside of Waco, Texas.

After a siege of the cult headquarters in 1993, the government attacked and killed 82 sect members, including women and children.

Ferlinghetti poem simply says that if there had been someone present at that time whose mind was clear and compassionate - like a Buddhist or Gandhi or Mother Teresa - then the disaster might not have occurred. You can probably figure the rest of it out - how control, or lack thereof, played out.

And the people in the compound "might still be breathing the free America air of the First Amendment" (which promises free speech and freedom of choice in religion).

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

thanks!