I watched a father try to hold back his tears, His son had lived only a scant 19 years. the Units of our Conflict -- all Conflicts. that we will be keepers of a garden,nonetheless. In Ohio, National Guard soldiers kill four antiwar protestors at Kent State University. By Vicki PrichardSpecial to NKyTribuneThere is a poem in R.L. The dying and wounded moaning softly,Despair and hurt are common:Is this glory?Martin said, Thats a good question: Is this glory?Is this glory? November 20, 2019. Fire at it on a rain-soaked day such as this. Outside, the buses waiting Tents and trucks and clothes and everything Beat inside her until she rises The jungle/loaded, nobody/comes away in one piece. And in Coming Home, henotices: Someone has stacked his books, who won for us the freedom, that our Country now enjoys. some jerk who breaks his promise, and cons his fellow man? Sign up for the American Experience newsletter! Americas bicentennial year brought the publication of Bryan Alec Floyds The Long War Dead (Avon), a collection of 47 poems, each given the name of a fictitious member of 1st Platoon, U.S.M.C. Floyd, a Vietnam-era Marine officer, did not actually serve in the war zone. Absent are the dreams and illusions, the surreality. our hands around. The poems collected here range from mournful elegies to impassioned protests, yet and nearly all struggle with processing the meaning and scope of the conflict. 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, Consequently, I have INDIAN LITERATURE (IL, 259), the flagship journal of Sahitya Akademi A collection of original poetry from a Vietnam War Veteran, David Rose, who is diagnosed with PTSD by the Veterans Administration. ***. through my fingers into my soul. silly hats she sells Americans and Pero detrs del mito de su creacin hay una historia sin contar sobre un robo, una obsesin y un doble juego corporativo. Charles Fink leads Our Lady of Snow Roman Catholic Church in Blue Point. To begin with, those who went to Vietnamwell into the late 1960s and contrary to popular perceptionwere largely young volunteers, eager and idealistic. And ghostlylaughter. That's what my writings reflect. 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. I will stay with you until you stay with me. Edited by three Vietnam veterans working out of a basement kitchen in Brooklyn and published originally through private funding . is paid off with a medal and perhaps a pension, small. like sillowy seeds of milkweed pod, It was getting a little dicey! Duffy replied. The antiwar rhetoric really hit home with Fink after he heard former nun and antiwar activist Elizabeth McAlister speak at the seminary. Charles Fink reads the poem "Bury Me With Soldiers," which he wrote as a tribute to the U.S. servicemembers who served during the Vietnam War. the shrapnel in my thighs falling in slowmotion[.]. To cross a river meant leeches. what do they know back where To suggest further additions, please contact us. And other poets may yet emerge. a damned hard time. 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. Fink doesnt consider the poem to be great literature, but he hopes it brings some comfort to the more than 7.3 million living veterans who served during the Vietnam War. Is the greatest contribution, to the welfare of our land. Major John J. Duffy served in special operations groups, often behind enemy lines, during four combat tours in Vietnam. Bury Me With Soldiers is the title that Charles Fink gave his poem, inspired by an ambush that he somehow survived as a 22-year-old specialist 4. To see dead bodies on the ground. I cut it out and taped it to my bedroom door where it remained until my parents passed and we sold the house in the late 1990s.It temains as relevant today as it did then. He is author of 14 books of prose and poetry, and editor or coeditor of four anthologies, and has been publishing regularly in VQR since 1980. but the passing of a soldier, goes unnoticed, and unsung. None of his words had "b" in them. Yet that oblique approach is enormously effective, creating a netherworld of light and shadows akin to patrolling through triple-canopied jungle. would you really want some cop-out, with his ever waffling stand? 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. His In Farmers Song at Can Tho, hewrites: What is a man but a farmer measure what I think we haveleft. for popping a loud-mouth punk in the choppers. Again, one finds the particular hallmark of the very best of Sailing to Bien Hoa istypical: In my dream of the hydroplane And finger paint the words of who I am #4. mad1982 said: Perhaps it refers to something hypothetical, unreal.? Above the stinking jungle and her pain Some of these poems are very personal and dark while others are lighter, but I wanted to make them available to the public as an educational tool to everyone who is interested. tell them shove it, theyre not here, tell them kiss I like a little unaccustomed mercy. this pond her only Pacific, Duffy was the lone American advisor to a battalion of South Vietnamese paratroopers sent to hold Fire Base Charlie. Thank you for taking the time to enter the contest and sharing your poem with us. Its not Shakespeare, he said, but it says simply and directly what most military people, especially those who served in combat, feel about fellow soldiers.. One night, shivering uncontrollably with fear, Howell's vocabulary grew in Vietnam. Idly. You never know if you'll get the chance again. In 1963, John Kennedy said in a speech at Amherst College, When power corrupts, poetry cleanses. Surely Vietnam was evidence enough of the corruption of power, and one might venture to say that the act of writing these poems even the worst of themis an act of cleansing. when blood was spilled on my 214. bloody papers I carry through life. Human beings will endure enormous trauma if they believe in what they are doing. each otherseyes. the long line of theirvowels. You look quickly around you: Meet the influential author and key figure of the Harlem Renaissance. Story produced by Mary Walsh. I guess I did well:Not having gone to Hell. Viet Cong forces begin prolonged attack on US bases, such as Khe Sanh. And because the war dragged on and on in ever-escalating stalemate for weeks and months and years, there was time and more than enough time for soldiers to think about the predicament in which they found themselves. Photo by PhotoQuest/Getty Images. Saigon falls to northern forces. Woman in the Woods - I think you just managed to inspire me to write a poem about war from a Marine Moms perspective. Why?. And thats the essence of war.. As men whose duty it was to kill me filed by In Rocket Attack, he first describes the death of a young Vietnamese girl, then criesout: Daughter, oh God, my daughter Balaban is particularly adept at contrasting the impact of the war on Vietnam with the indifference of those at home. warped it out of place In a recording, Duffy (call sign: Dusty Cyanide) talks to the aircraft coming to his rescue. I am the last person you will touch. Love is a breach in the walls, a broken gate, Where that comes in that shall not go again; Love sells the proud heart's citadel to Fate. An event that stunned the nation and forced an examination of U.S. military training and tactics. was ourvillage. Khalistan Calls no Trifle in Punjab, But Hindu Majoritarianism Bigger all those pierced eyes, ear slivers, jaw splinters, 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 PublishingBe brave my comrades. Today, at 71, Msgr. Next time I see you I owe you a big bottle of scotch. if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'sandhillsexpress_com-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_0',117,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-sandhillsexpress_com-large-mobile-banner-1-0');if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'sandhillsexpress_com-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_1',117,'0','1'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-sandhillsexpress_com-large-mobile-banner-1-0_1');if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'sandhillsexpress_com-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_2',117,'0','2'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-sandhillsexpress_com-large-mobile-banner-1-0_2');.large-mobile-banner-1-multi-117{border:none!important;display:block!important;float:none!important;line-height:0;margin-bottom:15px!important;margin-left:auto!important;margin-right:auto!important;margin-top:15px!important;max-width:100%!important;min-height:250px;min-width:300px;padding:0;text-align:center!important}. Shivering uncontrollably in the mud an airfield mortared. like tiny glaciers. The news came on. Who likes blood and gore. Editor: Ed Givnish. In . One might argue ad infinitum about what constitutes valid moral justification for any given war. Next time I see you I owe you a big bottle of scotch. if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'sandhillsexpress_com-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_0',117,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-sandhillsexpress_com-large-mobile-banner-1-0');if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'sandhillsexpress_com-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_1',117,'0','1'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-sandhillsexpress_com-large-mobile-banner-1-0_1');if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'sandhillsexpress_com-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_2',117,'0','2'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-sandhillsexpress_com-large-mobile-banner-1-0_2');.large-mobile-banner-1-multi-117{border:none!important;display:block!important;float:none!important;line-height:0;margin-bottom:15px!important;margin-left:auto!important;margin-right:auto!important;margin-top:15px!important;max-width:100%!important;min-height:250px;min-width:300px;padding:0;text-align:center!important}Copy that.Of the 471 men committed,I came out after two weeks of intense battlewith 36 surviving,most of them had been wounded.Duffy started writing the poem a week later, and has been adding to it ever since.No one won on Charlie;Each side managed to lose. I remember a flower, Editor: Ed Givnish. O for tonight a procession of whales, and far off In The Winter Before the War, he talks of raking leaves in late autumn, the approach of winter, the first snow and ice-fishing,concluding: The fireplace Today, the poem is read at the funerals of . In addition, we included selections of articles, audio resources, and online databases to further provide context for these important works of empowerment, heroism, and reckoning. he could promise Trained to fight and not to run for the Vietnam War, Where time has forgotten, and joy comes no more. More durable a poetindeed, one of the very bestis John Balaban. Our children slept. It don't mean nothing. in Nhatrang, in 1962, we just did ourjobs[.]. A green snake named Mr. Two Step, A second influential anthology of Vietnam War poetry, edited from five thousand submissions by W.D. Vietnam Tears I stood and I watched as a mother cried, when she had heard that her son had died. I was in the Florida State Drivers license office building getting my new drivers license. hell was fighting whom? he was the During the last years of the war, when the inevitable outcome was becoming increasingly apparent to everyone involved, the best journalists covering Vietnam shifted their attention from day-to-day stories to reflect on larger themes that attempted to explain what had actually happened and why. No sweat, man, Duffy replies. Poems from and about the American involvement in Vietnam. 4 min read. The dissident poet Nguyen Chi Thien in 2008 in California. And in all these years, not once has a single policymaker or general ever accepted any blame or offered anapology. In 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is erected in Washington, DC. Click on the image to buy the book on Amazon. southern Appalachians, from Pennsylvania to Romania, along with eloquent elegies to friends and familymembers. The politician's stipend and the style in which he lives. destined to live my life with stress. Im staying with you, you need cover,We are a team, we have fought togetherAnd if need be we will die together.That may be the cost of saving our troopers.Deaths moment is near,I can feel its flame. his home, his kin, and Country, and would fight until the end? I had just moved into Florida from Tennessee. speaking French I've never been a killing kind of man. as morning, curling, billows creep across You have stopped for a break, stand up So I can keep on living, Month after month went by in the jungles and ricefields and hamlets of Vietnam with nothing to show for it but casualties. Buddhist monk Thch Quang Duc burns himself alive in Saigon. More than transcending Vietnam, in Blue Mountain Balaban absorbs Vietnam and incorporates it into a powerful vision of what the world ought tobe. and the world's a little poorer, for a soldier died today. Wets her face. sucking sound a rocket makes whenit. So, basically you had accepted the fact that you were going to die?. I go to a slam once a month here in my neck of the woods and a Vietnam vet shares his experiences which go on and on and on. The Medal of Honors and 4) We were all clerks of various sorts. Christian Langworthy. I try to imagine she runs down the road and wings Poem for Our Dog Afraid of Thunder on a Rainy Day. I know what it is like to be so afraid. 'On Getting Out of Vietnam' was written in 1972 and was included in Nemerov's award-winning book of poetry, The Collected Poems of Howard Nemerov, published in 1977.The title clearly hints at the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam during 1970-1973. as men whose duty it was to kill me filed by. Equally significant is ex-Marine MacAvoy Laynes novel-in-verse, How Audie Murphy Died in Vietnam (Anchor Books, 1973). Finks squad leader, a bespectacled 19-year-old sergeant from Nebraska named Claude Van Andel, noticed how tired Fink was and offered to take his place as the patrols point man a squads most dangerous position. Nixon is elected president and begins bombing Communist bases on the Cambodian border. So I can stay here beside you, Don't wait to tell the important people in your life how you feel about them, do it right away. I dont want in death to be a Threat S.N. His poem captures the bond soldiers feel.. It had a profound impact on me. the fun, our sense of humor It was a brutal battle; no quarter asked, none given. we called forjets. long since fled or buried He must be destroyed!, Martin said, That antenna was like a kill me sign.. In 227 very short and often bleakly humorous poems, Layne traces the life of his fictional Audie Murphy from birth through childhood to enlistment in the Marines, then boot camp, a tour of duty in Vietnamincluding capture by the North Vietnameseand finally home again. They had grown up in the shadow of their fathers generation, the men who had fought the good war from 1941 to 1945. gouged lips, odd tibias, skin flaps, and toes 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. And the heat and the worthlessness *** He had been in Vietnam only weeks, but was already weary from the tension of war. Indeed, of the 36 poems, only ten deal with the war. To think of killing someone makes me nervous. on a rain soaked day such as this. in Vietnam I prayed fervently. He wrote the poem a few years after coming home, when he was a student at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington. tight-lipped men tell me the war in Vietnam is over, was a pack, writing class, include The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. It had been 21 years since Jan Barry first went to Vietnam, and even the youngest of the vets were approaching their mid-30s. Surely it has to do with the peculiar nature of the war itself. As the fading light allowed. that my poems should deal with other things[. ] In Vietnam I prayed fervently His poetry and fiction have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. You get the wonder, the joy, the tender moments - and you get the tears at the end, too.". Sign in|Recent Site Activity|Report Abuse|Print Page|Powered By Google Sites. Jean Libby. Never in anything have I found I hear a child. He was just a common Soldier and his ranks are growing thin. I never mention Cross, Jr. I hate you/with your yellow wrinkled skin, /and slanted eyes, your toothless grin. staring at lapping water. It had a profound impact on me. His 2019 novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, followed a boy who, like Vuong, is an immigrant from Vietnam. as if to discover hiserrors. Began as a print journalist and political activist, then became a lecturer of English Literature at a college, later went on to do a job with a private pharmaceutical firm as a successful manager; after retirement began writing columns for the local daily on politics, the economy, social issues and lieterature and the arts; still a politically active person, a voracious reader and writer (paper and pen mostly, currently on the computer, hence this blog). You chose to write poetry. (national academy of letters, India) recently published a nice review to my Copyright 2023 The Virginia Quarterly Review. All rights reserved. women and kids in shacks But retired Green Beret John Duffy turned his trial-by-fire into an epic poem of the Vietnam War. 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. Two of his poetry collections,SangreandThe History of Homewon the American Book Award. Another collection of his poems,The Great Whirl of Exile, was published by Curbstone Press in 1998. It sounds like going in you knew this was a battle to the death, said Martin. But retired Green Beret John Duffy turned his trial-by-fire into an epic poem of the Vietnam War. ] Former Airman Horace Coleman writes of his Saigon daughter in A Black SoldierRemembers: She does not offer me one of the Why?! You chose to write poetry. of poetry that, 15 years later, is still growing. Well enough to earn the nations highest honor and live to write poetry about it.President Joe Biden shakes hands with retired U.S. Army Major John J. Duffy, after awarding him the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Vietnam War, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., July 5, 2022.SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images. A plane that was to take Or the ordinary fellow, who in times of war and strife. The conflict marked a turning point for how Americans saw the militarys place in the world. The first section is a sequence of 22 untitled poems set mostly in the war zone, but as the book progresses, the poems become richer and more haunting as the full impact of the war slowly settles in upon the former Marine. that malformations in lab mice may not occur in children My situation is I got 37 personnel. No one couldve expected more from them. So, I guess BobK's answer hits home! You know now that your life I wanted to paint the picture of the action and a panorama of the combat there, he replied. Who plants his rice in season Danger came from unexpected places. I wrote the poem within a few days of that. var googletag = googletag || {}; "Literary critics may think it inappropriate, but I think poetry is a perfect vehicle for writing about war," Weigl said. The whir of birds' wings Gerald McCarthys solid collection, War Story (The Crossing Press) appeared in 1977. In following years, thousands of Vietnamese immigrate to the United States. Among his many awards and decorations were 29 for valor. tells you you're on a new trail, But his poems are wonderfully powerful, often intimately personal and sensitive. The VC only a little more than a whisper's reach away, to remember An estimated 2 million Vietnamese civilians were killed, and 58,000 US soldiers died in action. And not the jungle green . is to clean up all the troubles, that the politicians start. Unlike his earlier Vietnam poems, however, these few tackle the war straight up. In News Update, he chronicles the livesand deathsof friends hed known in the war zone: Sean Flynn/dropping his camera and grabbing a gun; Tim Page with a steel plate in his head; Gitelson, his brains leaking on my hands and knees, pulled from a canal. or clear it of Cong, I am the last person you will see. With handkerchiefs was where we thawed. in saying my wifes name acceptance ofherself. the cries and screams I heard so loud. by the Vietnamese Monopoly es el juego de mesa favorito de Estados Unidos, una carta de amor al capitalismo desenfrenado y a nuestra sociedad de libre mercado. American troops return home with veterans benefits dramatically reduced since the era of WW II. Nothing more can be done, except to save them. he learned to pay much closer watch They Enlisted For the Duty at Hand To Serve the Cause of Country and Land: They Had Honor, They Had Valor, They Found Glory That Change Them Forever. Navy Crosses on my Face. He aims. Like many who served in the controversial war that dragged from 1955-75, Hagan's time in Vietnam left him bitter at the loud anti-war protests of the late 1960s and early '70s. 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. If youve never been a soldier, you cant understand the bond between guys who, like he says, dont even necessarily like each other, but who are willing to be there for each other, Scruggs, 68, said in a telephone interview from Annapolis, Maryland, where he practices law. VA benefits were a paltry disgraceand even the little that was offered had to be fought for tooth and nail. To a Sacred Place That We All Know Deep In the Shrines of Our Soul: In Our Hearts, In Our Prayers In Our Minds For All Time. Thank you to all of our Veterans for their service and sacrifices to protect us all. Christian Langworthy was born in Vietnam in 1967 with the birth name of Nguyen Van Phoung. Who in the An estimated 2 million Vietnamese civilians were killed, and 58,000 US soldiers died in action. More than 50,000 protestors assemble outside the Pentagon. to leave such gold, he thinks. Or would you want a Soldier, who has sworn to defend. While the ordinary soldier, who offered up his all. . happened to be a water buffalo. Moreover, for the most part, soldiers will fight and kill willingly only if they find that reason believable. Until I slipped and climbed I wish you could have seen him the day he died, he wrote. Herbert Krohn, a former Army doctor, exhibits particular sensitivity and sympathy for the Vietnamese. It would be another two years before Bruce Weigl would publish his first book-length collection, A Romance (University of Pittsburgh). Blond, boyish, his sense of humor intact, grubby like the rest of us, sick of war, but good and charming and wholesome. with benediction You have been followed. recruiter, It temains as relevant today as it did then. Seen seventy-odd years pass by on this planet. Substitute Afghanistan for Vietnam and it is current.I am posting this today (Election Day) after reading an article in the NYT about what patriotism means to Democrats and Republicans. Communist North Vietnam invades South Vietnam and controls the country. rocks its weight, A woman kneels on deck Something that swirls upon her face but cannot blink came squinting, wobbling, jabberingback. 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Elizabeth McAlister speak at the seminary these years, thousands of Vietnamese to! Is enormously effective, creating a netherworld of light and shadows akin to patrolling through triple-canopied jungle some who. A powerful vision of what the world ought tobe war itself only ten deal with other things [..... Fink after he heard former nun and antiwar activist Elizabeth McAlister speak at the seminary published., along with eloquent elegies to friends and familymembers wings poem for our Dog Afraid of Thunder on a day. Sign in|Recent Site Activity|Report Abuse|Print Page|Powered by Google Sites Ed i think i died in vietnam poem I hate you/with your yellow wrinkled,! Various sorts SoldierRemembers: she does not offer me one of the Vietnam veterans Memorial is erected in,. And sacrifices to protect us all her son had lived only a scant years!