The poem depicts a day when she sat next to the "colonel" and he told her horrific things about the war and his atrocities. It was unknown at the time, and it is still uncertain now, whether the experiences described in this work are a fiction or a record of genuine occurrences. What we do know is that they had an impact on Forche, who died in a car accident in 2003, at the age of 48. Carolyn Forche was born on August 4th, 1964 in San Francisco, California. She was an American poet, novelist, and journalist. Her works often focused on female characters in conflict with social norms around love and marriage. Forche received her undergraduate degree in English literature from Stanford University in 1986 and went on to receive her master's degree in journalism from Columbia University in New York City a year later. In 1994, she moved back home to California where she lived with her husband Eric von der Lütte. The couple had two children together: a daughter named Georgia and a son named Jackson. In 2007, after several years away from writing poetry, Forche returned with a new collection called Colonel. The work was well-received by critics who noted its emotional power and innovative style. It won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Poetry and was shortlisted for the National Book Award.