Suddenly as the riot squad moved in it was raining exclamation
marks,
This poem is an example of writing a poem with an opening line that uses a literary technique known in media res. This is just a fancy Latin term meaning that things start in the middle. The use of the word “Suddenly” as the first instantly conveys that there has already been a beginning to this story and the reader is entering the narrative at a point of mystery. When using this technique of starting in the middle, the author usually resorts to one of two choices: either fill in the necessary information about things got to that point later on or more subtly allude to the beginning through details of what happens from that point forward in such a way that conclusions can be drawn. The first detail of use also appears in this opening line. The reader knows that a riot has gotten the speaker to this point in the story, but for the time being that is all the information provided.
I was trying to complete a sentence in my head, but it kept
stuttering,
By this point it should be clear enough to the reader that this is not going to be the type of work that begins in the middle in which the forward movement of the action stops in order to take the time explicitly describe the events leading to “Suddenly.” Things are moving way too fast as the poem’s rhythm replicates the desperation of the speaker to escape danger and find sanctuary. But it’s not just that things are moving fast. This line offers insight into the speaker’s psychological state of mind and in doing firmly constitutes that the reader is advised to perceive the poem as taking place in the present.
This is not a case where the poet is writing down a recollection of an event: the poem is happening as it is being read. As a result, it also becomes clear at this point that one shouldn’t expect too much fancy technique for the purpose of telling what happened through fine details. While an author picks between one of two choices when beginning in the middle, the poem reveals there is also a third option: explain context in the title. The word “Belfast” is enough to drawn a conclusion about the players in the drama, who the rioters were and who makes up the riot squad.
talkies. What is
My name? Where am I coming from? Where am I going?
A fusillade of question-marks.
The direct replication of the structure of the poem’s final lines indicate the significance of other literary techniques used in the poem like caesura and enjambment to manipulate sentence punctuation and pauses in the construction verse. The poem is filled with examples like this where complete sentences are broken up to share the same line with a different sentence. This structural dissonance between sentences and lines in a poem is often used for the purpose of conveying a sense of dislocation in time or perception. The use here of caesura in literally every line but one in the poem creates the sense of time moving rapidly, too rapidly for the mind to fully catch up. A thought that begins on one line ends on the next because the speaker can’t stop to think. The use of this device serves not just to create a sense of confusion, but confusion marked by desperation for survival. By the end, the effect has moved beyond mere confusion and into a portrait of full-scale terror
