Some keep on walking To see dead bodies on the ground. . Beat inside her until she rises Maurice DeCaul watched as his battalion's artillery units fired into the city. Apr 6, 2009. By clicking Sign up, you agree to our privacy policy. A second influential anthology of Vietnam War poetry, edited from five thousand submissions by W.D. What patriotism is NOT is the fear and hatred spewed by Trump and his ilk. Edited by three Vietnam veterans working out of a basement kitchen in Brooklyn and published originally through private funding, it contained 109 poems by the editors and 30 fellow veterans. Howells was the Colonel's aide. The firefight that followed left most of the dozen or so U.S. troops either dead or wounded. old counting the year/in days, . Turning in the war, the tropical heat like hate Never in anything have I found got measured, issued new dress uniforms Find out what each side had in its arsenal. be hes one of the Lords In his poem, Duffy imagines the orders the North Vietnamese commander gave his troops: if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[580,400],'sandhillsexpress_com-banner-1','ezslot_5',114,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-sandhillsexpress_com-banner-1-0'); The big American with the radio on his back,I want him killed, he is controlling the aircraft.He is attacking our anti-aircraft and artillery guns.He moves often. Among his many awards and decorations were 29 for valor. ] In Still Later There Are War Stories, he warns: We grow of poetry that, 15 years later, is still growing. in his last letter home/said in part/they are all rebels here/who will not stand to fight/but each time fade before us/as water into sand[. But retired Green Beret John Duffy turned his trial-by-fire into an epic poem of the Vietnam War. walking slowly, scratching. But the two most noteworthy poets in the collection are Paquet and Michael Casey. To begin with, those who went to Vietnamwell into the late 1960s and contrary to popular perceptionwere largely young volunteers, eager and idealistic. Records, souvenirs, pretending I was in the Florida State Drivers license office building getting my new drivers license. . like sillowy seeds of milkweed pod, I didnt have a sign on me that says crazy combat medic with PTSD, like giving me the boot as I walk out the door, Stuck on depression could use some relief, Others come home and hide behind closed door, Shooting a machine gun and throwing flames, I know it's a game but it got my attention, There's more than training that powers us, It's love for our brothers that is a big plus, Went to war to find love for their brothers, Providing security so his platoon could advance, Stormed enemy trench to give them a chance, Sacrificed himself while his platoon made a stand, Gave his own life so his brothers will last, During enemy attack, comrade falls in the line of fire, Leaves the safety of his hole, knowing the consequences are dire, Watches the enemy aim knowing it's the end, Two men in light aircraft take hit and loose power, Pilot won't survive but the navigator can, Ditched the plane in water to save the other man, It's hard to comprehend what he had just done, Prisoner of war with the Viet Cong for 3 years, Gave his food and meds to support his peers, Gained respect from the enemy for the valor he showed. Howell's vocabulary grew in Vietnam. for popping a loud-mouth punk in the choppers. recruiter, speaking French Hundreds of ball bearings went screaming through the leaves, killing the Nebraskan and soaking Finks pants with his own blood. Oneword. O for tonight Then, he sums up his own career, starting as a 17-year-old private and ending as a major with four combat tours.I guess I did well:Not having gone to Hell. No one couldve expected more from them. ***. the sad smile she alreadyhas. And here I am, ten years later, hemuses: written up in the local small town press each otherseyes. But the appearance in 1984 of D.F. Public obscenity likethis[.]. if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[970,250],'sandhillsexpress_com-box-4','ezslot_4',113,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-sandhillsexpress_com-box-4-0');CreateSpace Publishing. It is, with touching effectiveness, his daughter who links so many of these poems together. - Earnest Hemingway, (18991961). If we cannot do him honor, while he's here to hear the praise. After our war, the dismembered bits Unlike his earlier Vietnam poems, however, these few tackle the war straight up. knowing I would have to kill whatever was out there, The time made him, in his words, more serious and played a subtle role in his decision to become a priest. Except for that, For he lived an ordinary, very quiet sort of life. ./Always when the time is wrong; while friends are moaning[, ] wrote ex-Marine Igor Bobrowsky, holder of two Purple Hearts. and sent to the Mess Hall, choice USA steaks. that as we grow old, we will not grow evil, Of the dozen or so poems Paquet contributes, three or four must rank as among the very best Vietnam war poems yet written. Should you find yourself in danger, with your enemies at hand. the fun, our sense of humor The VC only a little more than a whisper's reach away, Christian Langworthy was born in Vietnam in 1967 with the birth name of Nguyen Van Phoung. All rights reserved. I have thumped and blown into your kind too often. Sign in|Recent Site Activity|Report Abuse|Print Page|Powered By Google Sites. I wish you could have seen him the day he died, he wrote. What else can we do? Vuong's new collection of poetry was inspired by his mother's death from breast cancer. I have nothing she needs but I n March 2019, three months before the publication of Ocean Vuong's novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, he called his agent from the hallway of a Hartford, Conn . Waiting for the enemy, faces without names; Their bodies mount-up now God's to claim. I had read it when it was first published in 1996 and it has stuck with me, as has the utterly savage U.S. war against Vietnam that killed so many millions, what the Vietnamese call The American War. You have been followed. Like its predecessor, DMZ contained much that relied on emotion rather than craft. I slide on my army suit. These poems are available in a book format. It also introduced a handful of good newcomers. Soon it will be here,It seems strange no more.Martin said, Strange no more. Somewhere over there was once your home. Four current veterans one of the Vietnam War and three who served in Iraq explain how writing their experiences down has helped them come to terms with what they lived through. As men whose duty it was to kill me filed by No sweat, man, Duffy replies. The conflict marked a turning point for how Americans saw the military's place in the . With the tears from mother's eyes. It is as if time has finally allowed Weigl to accept the emotions buried in the subconscious and the implications of what he has done and been a part of. When politicians leave this earth, their bodies lie in state. by the minnows flash, the tremble of a breast, Bobrowsky, Cross, and Purcell contribute powerful poems. None of his words had "b" in them. But he chose to do his alternative service in Vietnam, first as a teacher of linguistics at the University of Can Tho, then as field representative for the Committee of Responsibility to Save War-Injured Children. They had grown up in the shadow of their fathers generation, the men who had fought the good war from 1941 to 1945. as if to discover hiserrors. They have known shame, who love unloved. You have read 1 of 10 free articles in the past 30 days. Torture, assault and battery, malicious destruction, murder and mayhemthe very things young Americans had always been taught only the enemy didwere widespread and tacitly or openly sanctioned. Meet the influential author and key figure of the Harlem Renaissance. Thich Nhat Hanh dismissed the idea of death. would be a troop of baboons. And not the jungle green You did a good job. Where then do these poems comefrom? by the Vietnamese Some adults stare too I checked. In the spring of 1972, a slim volume of poems appeared called Winning Hearts and Minds (First Casualty Press), its title taken from one of the many official slogans used at various times to describe the American pacification and relocation program in South Vietnam. Former medic Brown is particularly interesting, having remained in the Army from 1968 to 1977, and one can only wonder why he stayed in and why he got out. Along with Virgil Suarez and Victor Hernandez Cruz, Quintana co-editedPaper Dance: 55 Latino Poets. Because of his unique situation, however, Balaban brings to his poetry a perspective unlike any other. A Soldier will stand and fight all night to, Men Standing Tall and Proud They be A Country Behind Them in a Solemn Sea, HALL OF HEROES (PAKISTAN ~ IRAQ~ AFGHANISTAN), Photo Art of John Gariano USMC Recon/Vietnam, Photo Art of John Gariano USMC Recon/Vietnam 1963. staring at lapping water. . Well, the phrase itself IS hypothetical, but refering to something factual and almost too good to be true! When a loved one doesn't return from war there will be many unresolved feelings. Copyright 2023 The Virginia Quarterly Review. One night, shivering uncontrollably with fear, on a rain-soaked day such as this. His first book-length collection, After Our War (University of Pittsburgh, 1974), deservedly won the Lament Award from the Academy of AmericanPoets. an airfield mortared. Katie Greeter Team Leader For when countries are in conflict, then we find the Soldier's part. The conflict marked a turning point for how Americans saw the militarys place in the world. Absent are the dreams and illusions, the surreality. Here we are at Vietnam. In The Sound of Guns, hewrites: At the university in town (national academy of letters, India) recently published a nice review to my Bowels and a heart that sings tell them shove it, theyre not here, tell them kiss Across my chest Under such conditions as these, there has been more than enough reason and plenty of time for once-idealistic youngsters to consider long and hard the war they fought, the government and the society that sent them to fight it, and the values they had once believed in. They dared not dream, for it might be forever. You chose to write poetry. Or the ordinary fellow, who in times of war and strife. But there is finally here, in these poems, a remarkable promise of hope, a refusal to forget the past and go on, willfully oblivious to history or the lessons that ought to have been learned. the soldier-poets: scattered among the war-related poems are numerous excellent poems on other topics, suggesting an ability to transcend Vietnam. A sergeant said Pass me the salt, boy You have stopped for a break, stand up she is burned behind my eyes It sounds like going in you knew this was a battle to the death, said Martin. I dont want in death to be a Anchored in red morning mist a narrow junk He has won an Academy of American Poets Prize . It was said the NVAs carried flashlights. I lay down in it Next months harvest is hordes of hungry beetles. Why?! Most of the poems in Winning Hearts and Minds are Click on the image to buy the book on Amazon. :-D Thanks a lot! We were home finally going home. The type of day that dogs don't understand. through my fingers into my soul. In For Mrs. Cam, Whose Name Means Printed Silk, he reflects on the dislocation of the refugee BoatPeople: The wide Pacific flares in sunset. "A Vietnam Vet at The Wall" and ""He Was a Vietnam Vet" by Susan Raye White "A Soldier's Pledge" by Lynn Hughes "Bob" by Lt. William P. Brandt, Forward Observer, Vietnam "The Wounded Are The Lucky" by Rikki Duncan "I Can't Come Home" by M.L.Carte "Perspective of the Vietnam Memorial" by Judy/T. You are twenty-three. To suggest further additions, please contact us. is paid off with a medal and perhaps a pension, small. as morning, curling, billows creep across sucking sound a rocket makes whenit. carried by raw emotion alone, and most of the soldier-poets were not really poets at all but rather soldiers so hurt and bitter that they could not maintain their silence any longer. One night frightening scores of them for the number you'd last after bitten. Possession turns on him like swimming ducks, In Orpheus in the Upper World, he offers perhaps an explanation for the hundreds and even thousands of poems written by those who fought thewar: For when his order had burst his head, Poems from and about the American involvement in Vietnam. served in Vietnam in any capacity at all. The whiteness of the branches So easily frightened they were perfect warning. Who likes blood and gore. But for others in the volume, and for Vietnam-related poetry in general, Winning Hearts and Minds proved to be only the forerunner for a body It was a brutal battle; no quarter asked, none given. Nguyen Chi Thien, Whose Poems Spoke Truth to Power, From a Cell, Dies at 73. Copyright 2023 Newsday. Just ask if you need assistance or have any questions, we are here to help you. This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions. in Nhatrang, in 1962, we just did ourjobs[.]. front, put the leg down, likeswimming. A plane that was to take a kite, a mannikin playing the guitar, "This is the price you pay for having a great father. This is for Fred-who carried me on his back when I could walk no further. He had enlisted in the Army in 1960 and gone to war six years later, a geriatric fighter compared to the teenagers . Unencumbered by history He must be destroyed!, Martin said, That antenna was like a kill me sign.. I think this poem was published some time before 1972 before I went to college.I cant remember the magazine (probably TIME). Fink ended up spending a year in Vietnam. shivering uncontrollably in the mud. Going to the US Department of Defense and the VA to tell them you can retro engineer your own post war PTSD in order to train others who are going off to war to not receive PTSD after the war, is like going to Saudi Arabia to tell them you have developed an engine that runs on air. embarrasses me. Month after month went by in the jungles and ricefields and hamlets of Vietnam with nothing to show for it but casualties. In Farmers Song at Can Tho, hewrites: What is a man but a farmer "God Has Pity on Kindergarten Children" by Yehuda Amichai. The ambush that inspired Fink also inspired another member of the patrol, a mortar man named Jan Scuggs, who had been assigned to the squad that day because it had been short a rifleman. More than 50,000 protestors assemble outside the Pentagon. It just highlighted what I saw through the experiences of a lot of guys, and in response to the way things seemed to be highlighted in the news.. In one particularly striking poem, Interview with a Guy Named Fawkes, U.S. Army, McDonald capturesas well as any young grunt couldthe grinding frustrations of guerrillawar: you tell them this Moments later, a mine exploded. Then, he sums up his own career, starting as a 17-year-old private and ending as a major with four combat tours. Many of the poets, like Paquet and Casey, surfaced briefly, then disappeared. Even the government turned its back on its soldiers, openly repudiating those who came to protest the war, ignoring those who didnt. Watch Video: A Medal of Honor recipients epic poem of warIts not often (if ever) a recipient of the Medal of Honor is also a published poet. He must be destroyed!Martin said, That antenna was like a kill me sign.Plus, I was 62, and the Vietnamese are typically about 56, Duffy said.The air strikes he called in were the only thing keeping badly-outnumbered South Vietnamese troops from being overrun. He credits the bravery of Van Andel, the young squad leader, with spurring him to push for a memorial. Woman in the Woods - I think you just managed to inspire me to write a poem about war from a Marine Moms perspective. that I havedrunk. Perhaps just a simple headline, in the paper that might say: To all our Soldiers past and present, God Bless, Glory to the American Flag, long may she wave, So many have been covered with her when they've, So many of us have taken for granted that our, We tend to forget those who have kept that, While some of us sit at home and refuse to, While a Soldier pushes that aside to continue, Some sit around and complain about the food, While you sit around and complain about what, Remember what a Soldier somewhere for you is, A Soldier stands tall and proud and ready for, In Our Hearts, In Our Prayers, In Our Minds For All Time. These are wonderful poems, made more so by their juxtaposition with touchingly beautiful nonwar poems like Snowy Egret and Small Song for Andrew. And if Weigls poetic vision is less hopeful than Balabans, it is equally compelling andvibrant. 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