Poem:

I soar the skies in a state of euphoria,

My lengthy hair fluttering in the gusts,
Lashing out at my heels as I plummet:
An architectural wonder anticipates my arrival.
I shatter the gleaming stained glass windows:
Faux renditions of a woman holding a child
(Rings around their heads: colorless glass).
A grin smears across my blood-covered face
And the light of a thousand candles gleams in my eyes
Velvet draperies fall to the dirty floor;
Screams arise from the shouting priests as I
Drop down behind them and
Slit their unholy throats with my encrusted sword.
Groans of pain and tearing of flesh resounds
Beneath the echoes of the bullets as they fly
With thunderously wondrous abandon from my
UZI.
Merrily I laugh at the elated passion that
Surges through my veins like a prairie fire.
My mind calms and with pride I wade
Through my personal lake of blood, tears, and terror,
Blotting out the flames of the meaningless candles.
My teeth glimmer midst my ecstatic smile as I crush
With the tread of my shoe the remnants of countless crucifixes.
One more pointless conclave of lies annihilated.
First slide: Poem Purification By Xoandre
I found this on a blog-like website called allpoetry.com, you mightve heard of it before,
anyone can upload their own poems about any given topic. This poem was shared by an
individual called Xoandre however I couldnt find any other personal information about
him. Before I could read the poem there was a warning saying that it discusses a very
controversial topic and some readers might not enjoy it because they have different
opinions however the conflict itself is very argued since its extremely contemporary and
Im sure nobody will have any problems with it.

Second slide: Background

Before showing the poem its crucial to know some background information about the
conflict which Im aware that you all must know about but I consider its still a good
idea to refresh your minds.
9/11
I assume that all of the people of our age or with a few years difference started
hearing about Islamic Extremism when they were explained why September
11th is a unique day in all of our lives since 2001. For my IDU I am expected to
focus solely on ISIS however ISIS can in fact trace its roots to Al-Qaeda who
were responsible for this tragedy. A Jordanian man once desired to join AlQaeda, however the group found his ideas too extreme for them! This man
initiated the idea of the Islamic State.
Who is ISIS and what do they do?

ISIS is the worlds most committed, impassionate and fierce radical jihadist
organization which was started in 2013. Its anti-democracy and sectarian, and
desires to create a caliphate. To reach this goal they have been responsible for
many terrorist attacks, videoed beheadings, kidnappings and suicide attacks to
terrorize the world.
This table shows all the terrorist attacks that the organization has carried out in
2015, including the famous attacks in Paris against Charlie Hebdo and on the
past 13 of November. We can also notice that on the same day in which 12
people died in Paris, including the famous cartoonist, there was a massive
killing spree that spanned 16 villages and killed 2000 people in Nigeria. This
shows the reaction of media towards ISIS actions.
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Third slide: Purification By Xoandre.

*show poem*
Fourth slide: Why did I choose this poem?
I chose this poem because I consider the perspective of it very contrasting to
other texts I found, this one is written from the point of view of the terrorist
rather than the victim. The world is astonished by their actions and ambitions,
its unable to comprehend how terrorists are able to commit these atrocities and
it only has confusion, resentment and hatred towards the organization. It was
unbelievable for me to see that somebody had put themselves in the skin of one
of the jihadists.
Fifth slide: Why do I think it is a good representation of the field of conflict I am
researching?
One of the questions that will always remain unanswered about this topic is
how can there be people who have the heart to commit such cruel acts, without
a valid reason? This will never have a valid answer for lots of people since ISIS
reason is that they are good Muslims following the Quran making the world a
better place, however everybody who disagrees states that they have no religion,
no statement in the Quran allowing them to do what theyre doing. Society is
leaning more towards the second answer however it is a matter of opinion. This
poem shows more reasons why ISIS members do what they do, other than the
ones we already know.
Sixth slide: Annotations
*show poem with annotations and bullet points explaining*
I assume that this poem is meant to be read while being aware of the fact that its
written from a terrorists perspective. Its logical to hypothesize that Xoandre, the
individual who uploaded this poem to the internet, wouldnt have shared it if it was
about himself since he would confess a very considerable crime committed.
However, as for textual evidence, its easy to recognize the fact that he/she definitively
doesnt follow Christianity. This is obvious since when the first stanza reads: Faux
renditions of a woman holding a child (rings around their heads: colorless glass) a grin
smears across my blood-covered face [] the person is talking about Mary and baby
Jesus when saying a woman holding a child, he/she also talks about rings around
their heads which are meant to be Halos, and he obviously calls them insincere.
Another indisputable evidence is when the third stanza reads: my teeth glimmer midst
my ecstatic smile as I crush with the tread of my shoe the remnants of countless
crucifixes. Explaining the violence and hatred he/she has towards Christianity, which
an atheist wouldnt have because they have no opinion at all about any religion.

The poem is made up of three stanzas, the first one including 9 sentences, the second
one including 7 sentences and the third one including 8 sentences. There is absolutely
no rhyme in this poem. The range of vocabulary is very particular since lots of positive
and confident words are seen however also lots of pessimistic, vicious words are also
present. Theres one specific sentence, the first one of the second stanza which reads:
Velvet draperies fall to the dirty floor which contrasts something elegant with
something vulgar, which the person him/herself was responsible for, however it seems
as if he/she was satisfied with it.
Some catholic terms are also used such as stained glass windows, rings around their
heads, priests, candles and crucifixes. Going back to the phrase a woman
holding a child in which he refers to Mary and baby Jesus, I was also aware of the fact
that writing about women and children also makes readers emphasize more, therefore
shocks and surprises them more about the ability of the person to doubt Mary and baby
Jesus reliability.
The fact that everything is occurring in a church also has a powerful meaning since it
may be attempting to explain that people arent safe from the author of the poem (the
terrorist). Not even in their beloved Gods home, not even when praying to their allpowerful idol, also saying that hes not the correct God to pray to (since he calls himself
Muslim).
All the sentences highlighted in yellow show the euphoria and pleasure that committing
such an atrocity brings to the terrorist. He refers to murder and making people suffer as
his passion. He claims that it calms him, makes him smile, it makes him proud and
that the passion surges through his veins like a prairie fire. A prairie fire is a fatal,
dangerous fire which extends very quickly and easily, just as his passion surging
through his veins. This is the only simile in the poem.
In the fourth sentence of the last stanza, through my personal lake of blood, tears and
terror the word personal is shocking because it shows how he/shes proud of being the
one who did this and how he/she wants to be recompensed (supposedly by God) for
this act. The very last sentence of the poem reads: one more pointless conclave of lies
annihilated which expresses that he/she finds the whole catholic religion and anything
to do with it a lie, such as the crucifixes mentioned in the sentence above it.