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Vietnam Memorial: a visual poem Since its dedication in 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC has been a powerful and moving tribute to the men and women who sacrificed their lives in the Vietnam War. Designed by Athens native Maya Lin, the wall consists of 140 panels inscribed with the names of the more than 58,000 who lost their lives. The black granite walls point to the Washington Monument to the east and the Lincoln Memorial to the west. Athens writer and independent producer Jim Murray has created what he calls a "visual poem" that examines the wall in images and music. The title, 58,214, reflects the number of names on the wall as of February, 1999. Murray videotaped the wall on early mornings over much of a week. He calls the time he spent capturing all of the names on the wall "a part of my life." "It afforded me many hours of quiet contemplation about the war; the monument; about life and death," Murray writes. "In the quiet hours, just before sunrise, there's a spirituality present. It's when those 140 slabs of cold, polished black granite feel most like a memorial. And it was in those hours of solitude that I found myself most profoundly moved." We're grateful to Jim for making this video available to us to share with visitors.
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