Thursday, January 26, 2006
War poems
I've always loved poetry but only in small doses. I could never read more than a handful of poems at a time.
But I read Johnny's War by Steve Mason in two sittings. It was that good. It was that powerful.
US Army Captain Steve Mason served in the Vietnam War. All his poetry resounds with gunfire, last love letters, and the public and private Wall that Vietnam became. It is some of the most moving and beautiful (though gritty) words I have read.
I wanted to write to him and tell him so. I do that, not as often as I'd like - write to authors and poets and tell them thank you. But he died last May, from complications due to exposure to Agent Orange. Damn.
Read this book.
But I read Johnny's War by Steve Mason in two sittings. It was that good. It was that powerful.
US Army Captain Steve Mason served in the Vietnam War. All his poetry resounds with gunfire, last love letters, and the public and private Wall that Vietnam became. It is some of the most moving and beautiful (though gritty) words I have read.
I wanted to write to him and tell him so. I do that, not as often as I'd like - write to authors and poets and tell them thank you. But he died last May, from complications due to exposure to Agent Orange. Damn.
Read this book.
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