Here, Bullet by Brian Turner
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Book Reviews of Here, Bullet
Book Review: Beautiful Sadness
Summary: 4 Stars
Beautiful, elegant poems that strike to the heart of the contradictions and paradoxes of the War in Iraq.
Haunting images, intricate craftsmanship, writing that has
heart, guts, passion, and grace.
Book Review: Excellent, really does capture the experience.
Summary: 4 Stars
As an Operation Iraqi Freedom vet, I can say that I find nothing in this book to not be completely within the realms of accuracy. A cathartic book for those who've seen action, a good expression of the experience.Book Review: this book now reviewed
Summary: 4 Stars
An extended scholarly review now appears in the San Francisco Humanities Review. Amazon's (very reasonable) copyright policy means it can't be printed here, but it's easy to Google. Overall Review, 4 stars.Book Review: Here, Bullet
Summary: 4 Stars
Very moving poetry set during the ongoing war in Iraq, reminiscent of the best of the poetry that came out of "The Great War".Book Review: Inconsistent, but mostly strong.
Summary: 3 Stars
Brian Turner, Here, Bullet (Alice James Books, 2005)
I turn from Frank Miller's bloody paean to the Battle of Thermopylae to Brian Turner's quiet, lyrical book about Iraq. And I should probably start by saying that I hate protest poetry. Loathe it. The second the message becomes more important than the poetry, the poetry begins to suck. And thus, when I find a book of poetry that can be described as "overtly political" that's actually halfway worthwhile, I sit up and take notice pretty quick. And Turner's book is the first one I can remember reading since Carolyn Forche's Gathering the Tribes two decades ago.
This is because Turner understands one of the basic truths about poetry: "show, don't tell." If you just lay the images out before the reader, the reader will pick up the underlying situation. In other words, credit your readers with having half a brain. Turner, much to his compliment, does, and as a result he can take the current hot-button issue and turn it into something, unlike the reams of protest trash that entire rainforests have had to die for, that actually looks like poetry:
"....Because Hussein's arm is scarred
elbow to wrist from the long war with Iran,
he holds the trowel in his left hand, pushing
mud against a bullet-pocked wall, the cement
an appeasement..."
("Trowel")
That's about as overt as it gets in this collection, and it's obvious that Turner has spent a whole lot of time thinking as much, if not more, about the presentation of image as about the presentation of message. Take note, protest poets, because in one slim volume, Brian Turner has managed to make the rest of you look like fools. ***