Poem Analysis: In Detention - Chris Van Wyk

In Detention

by Chris Van Wyk

Analysis by Lelethu Yeki

He fell from the ninth floor
He hanged himself
He slipped on a piece of soap while washing
He hanged himself
He slipped on a piece of soap while washing
He fell from the ninth floor
He hanged himself while washing
He slipped from the ninth floor
He hung from the ninth floor
He slipped on the ninth floor while washing
He fell from a piece of soap while slipping
He hung from the ninth floor
He washed from the ninth floor while slipping
He hung from a piece of soap while washing.

Chris Van Wyk was a poet in the Apartheid era, as he was of 'colour' it is quite expected that he would have something to say about the country's happenings and does this through poetry. 

This poem portrays a very heavy topic, being the death of many innocent people under imprisonment in a very light-hearted and 'humorous' manner. The main idea and purpose of the poem is to state or show the reasons and excuses that were given by the Apartheid police for killing people in prison. The theme and diction of this poem is kept very simple and in plain English to make an important point and make sure that people  understand the reality of what is being said. 

The tone of the poem is sarcastic however works out to be very effective. Through writing tools such as sarcasm and repetition, the writer brings our attention to the absurd variations of the explanations that the police gave. The variations of the explanations are rather absurd and quite frankly make no sense, showing that the police, in some sense abused their authority and were disrespectful enough to give such reasons and think the public would believe them. By referring to the men as "he" and not giving any specific names, shows that these deaths occured quite often to many people.  As the poem progresses, the explanations become more and more strange and queer, creating more of an effect of twisted facts.  

It is also important to carefully look at the actual explanations, where one can realize that in fact the police were highly dishonest: ie. with statements like "he fell from the ninth floor" one needs to remember that prisoners were kept chained and cuffed so it would have been quite impossible for these explanations to be true.