This found poem is created with the words of the story titled “Lather and Nothing Else” by Hernando Téllez.
The setting of this story is when the civil war is happening. The protagonist, “I,” is a professional barber with integrity. The antagonist is Captain Torres, and they are each other’s enemy.

In this story, the protagonist faces an internal conflict within himself. The conflict is about whether to kill Captain Torres, his customer, and his enemy at the same time. As a barber with integrity, he is supposed to treat him as an “ordinary” customer, with the greatest care, without hostility toward him. On the other hand, thinking of all the pains that rebels and his people have suffered due to Captain Torres’s brutal orders, he wants to kill Captain Torres and be the hero to his people. Since himself as a professional barber and himself as an enemy are colliding in his mind, the conflict is internal conflict, which is between the character and himself.

My poem shows the concept through short and impactful words. For instance, my poem showed how brutal Captain Torres is through the part where they stir up the rebels naked for their shooting practice. Also, I highlighted the two sides colliding and showed both sides well. For example, I wrote, “I am his enemy, clandestine, revolutionary.” It was to emphasize that Captain Torres is his enemy and to highlight his desire to kill him. Meanwhile, I also wrote, “I have to shave that beard like any other with the greatest care.” This was to reveal himself as a professional barber.

For my graphic design, I used black to emphasize the dark atmosphere. Additionally, I added a red part that looks like blood spreading out to underscore the killing and the setting. Furthermore, I even added some broken glasses in the background to highlight this poem’s setting and reveal that the country is chaotic due to civil war.

Moreover, I made the font size big in some parts, and I even changed the font style to the important parts to emphasize the protagonist’s two sides: the barber and the enemy. Also, I changed the font color for the last sentence. I colored the word hero blue, as blue symbolizes stability and freedom. I colored the word murderer red since red symbolizes death and danger.

Murderer or Hero by Sunny Hwang [STUDENT]