gouged lips, odd tibias, skin flaps, and toes But retired Green Beret John Duffy turned his trial-by-fire into an epic poem of the Vietnam War. Who plants his rice in season A poem of McDonalds appeared recently in The Atlantic. over and over. At nineteen I stood at night and watched In The Gardenia in the Moon, he writes: Men had landed on the moon./As men shot dirty films in dirty motel rooms, /Guerrillas sucked cold rice and fish. In other poems, Balaban reveals the depth of his feeling for the Vietnameseborn of the years he spent interacting with them in ways no soldier-veteran ever couldhis astounding eye for detail, his absorption of the daily rhythms of life in a rural, traditional world, and the terrible destruction of those rhythms and traditions. In 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is erected in Washington, DC. Loaded down with grenades, AK-47s In 1965, President Johnson commits 200,000 troops to the war, rising to more than 500,000 in 1967. Surely it has to do with the peculiar nature of the war itself. But retired Green Beret John Duffy turned his trial-by-fire into an epic poem of the Vietnam War. Balaban is particularly adept at contrasting the impact of the war on Vietnam with the indifference of those at home. Poem for Our Dog Afraid of Thunder on a Rainy Day. We were given orders to fight to the death, Duffy replied. Who in the 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. Christian Langworthy was born in Vietnam in 1967 with the birth name of Nguyen Van Phoung. The dissident poet Nguyen Chi Thien in 2008 in California. Ex-infantryman Steve Hassett contributed half-a-dozen poems, including his eerily ironic Christmas, in which The Hessian After our war, the dismembered bits Her hands reaching for the no one In In Celebration of Spring, heinsists: Swear by the locust, by dragonflies on ferns, It is inscribed inaccurately on a memorial stone at the Northport VA Medical Center. You killed the enemy or the enemy killed you. Most of the poems in Winning Hearts and Minds are In remembrance of American involvement in Vietnam, the Poetry Foundation has assembled a selection of poems from our archives that address the conflict and its aftermath. Climbing Not all the poems in After Our War deal with Vietnam. These poems are available in a book format. Soon it will be here,It seems strange no more. at the Chu Lai Laundry, who wouldnt give him his uniforms because they werentfinished: Who wouldve thought the world stops I never mention a yellow fish eating a bird, a truck In the intervening time, he had published two collections of translations: Vietnamese Folk Poetry and the bi-lingual Ca Dao Viet Nam (both from Unicorn, 1974 and 1980 respectively). Cross, Jr. I hate you/with your yellow wrinkled skin, /and slanted eyes, your toothless grin. Kill or die is our fate.It sounds like going in you knew this was a battle to the death, said Martin.We were given orders to fight to the death, Duffy replied.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. They dared not dream, for it might be forever. They are the very simplest things and because it takes a mans life to know them the little new that each man gets from life is very costly and the only heritage he has to leave. When a loved one doesn't return from war there will be many unresolved feelings. Eases, and your pain, andmine. Another collection of his poems,The Great Whirl of Exile, was published by Curbstone Press in 1998. Then drops his aim. the sky, the trees. like sillowy seeds of milkweed pod, Your poem gives a strong voice for those affected by war. Meet the influential author and key figure of the Harlem Renaissance. so full ofducks. In For Mrs. Cam, Whose Name Means Printed Silk, he reflects on the dislocation of the refugee BoatPeople: The wide Pacific flares in sunset. But retired Green Beret John Duffy turned his trial-by-fire into an epic poem of the Vietnam War. From World War II, one can think of only a handful of poems, like James Dickeys The Firebombing, Randall Jarrells The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner, and sections of Thomas McGraths Letter to an Imaginary Friend. Bones It was not the politicians, with their compromise and ploys. At the feet of the girl at the laundry, look on it healed His son had died nine thousand miles away, To contextualize these pieces, we listed the poems in the time periods in which they were written, along with a selection of historical markers. Its not often (if ever) a recipient of the Medal of Honor is also a published poet. be hes one of the Lords acceptance ofherself. He was getting old and paunchy and his hair was falling fast. or clear it of Cong, Nothing more can be done, except to save them. There are some things which cannot be learned quickly, and time, which is all we have, must be paid heavily for their acquiring. Every time weve broke out trying to leave here, we got fired upon., One pilot informs him he is low on fuel and has to leave. One might argue ad infinitum about what constitutes valid moral justification for any given war. 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. Christian Langworthy. It don't mean nothing. we called in the Cobras. It is my sincere wish that someone will find these heart-felt writings useful. This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions. 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). An estimated 2 million Vietnamese civilians were killed, and 58,000 US soldiers died in action. Even the government turned its back on its soldiers, openly repudiating those who came to protest the war, ignoring those who didnt. [All] our fear/and hate/Poured from our rifles/Into/the man in black/As he lost his face/In the smoke/Of an exploding hand frag, wrote infantryman and Bronze Star winner Frank A. So, basically you had accepted the fact that you were going to die?. silly hats she sells Americans and Fink ended up spending a year in Vietnam. And ghostlylaughter. From breaking news to special features and documentaries, the NewsdayTV team is covering the issues that matter to you. the sad smile she alreadyhas. We were home finally going home. document.documentElement.className += 'js'; served in Vietnam in any capacity at all. Unlike his earlier Vietnam poems, however, these few tackle the war straight up. At the time, I was really angry in the aftermath of that talk. . by this dazzle that does not wish to leave us ***. ] In Still Later There Are War Stories, he warns: We grow Until I slipped and climbed One hopes for the same from Brown, McCarthy and others. that was not a village any more While continuing the tone set by the earlier Winning Hearts and Minds, this later collection lifted the literary merit of the offerings a notch or two.In "Guerrilla War," W.D. 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.. Zambia. of liars. bleached into my fear. Copyright 2023 Newsday. Bruce Weigl had already demonstrated his mastery of other subjects and other themes in A Romance, and his newest collection, The Monkey Wars (University of Georgia, 1985), gives further proof of his considerable talents. I've never been a killing kind of man. "The Diameter of the Bomb" by Yehuda Amichai. 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. But his presence should remind us, we may need his like again. when blood was spilled on my 214. bloody papers I carry through life. One night they overran the compound. 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. An estimated 2 million Vietnamese civilians were killed, and 58,000 US soldiers died in action. Stuck to her dress like jelly, "Death in the Afternoon, Chapter 16", But I have walked in the face of the moon, I have befouled the waters and tainted the air of a magnificent land, I have flown through the sky faster than the sun, But I had idled in the streets made ugly with traffic, But I have built upon it hundred million homes, But I have built courthouses to keep them free, I have outraged my brothers in alleys and ghettos, I have scribbled out filth and pornography, But I have elevated the philosophy of man. Our children slept. Idly. And the initial rejection of Vietnam veterans, and the long silence of the 70s which followed (during which time Vietnam veterans were routinely stereotyped as drug-crazed, emotionally unbalanced misfits), have only given way to Rambo, Chuck Norris, and the sorry spectacle of Americas Vietnam veterans driven to build monuments to themselves and throw parades in their ownhonor. 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. ***. And it all came down on me, the stink not even in their granddams days And 'tho sometimes to his neighbors, his tales became a joke. It had now been nearly eight years since Balaban published After Our War, but he had not been idle. by the minnows flash, the tremble of a breast, for popping a loud-mouth punk in the choppers. That represent all that our Bob's and Jim's and Johnny's, went to battle, but we know. two children eating rice, He won't be mourned by many, just his children and his wife. . a procession of whales, and far off It's so easy to forget them, for it is so long ago. By Vicki PrichardSpecial to NKyTribuneThere is a poem in R.L. "Dulce Et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen. her eyes 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 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. You did a good job. Moreover, for the most part, soldiers will fight and kill willingly only if they find that reason believable. Even more chilling is Song of Napalm, in which he tries to appreciate the wonder of horses in a pasture after astorm: Still I close my eyes and see the girl rhapsody, Records, souvenirs, pretending CBS News national security correspondent David Martin asked Duffy, Lots of soldiers have written memoirs about their time in combat. I remember a flower, that unlike It would be another two years before Bruce Weigl would publish his first book-length collection, A Romance (University of Pittsburgh). It had been 21 years since Jan Barry first went to Vietnam, and even the youngest of the vets were approaching their mid-30s. The fear has come over me quick. Windy sighs. In late March 2003, while standing outside Nasiriyah, Iraq, former Marine Sgt. var googletag = googletag || {}; only a little more than a yard away. The firefight that followed left most of the dozen or so U.S. troops either dead or wounded. never! Fire at it Saigon falls to northern forces. On May 27, 1969, Fink was in the humid jungle countryside east of Saigon. Because of his unique situation, however, Balaban brings to his poetry a perspective unlike any other. is to clean up all the troubles, that the politicians start. . It died googletag.cmd = googletag.cmd || []; Leroy V. Quintana, a native New Mexican, served in Vietnam in the Army Airborne and a Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol unit in 1967-68. Duffy was the lone American advisor to a battalion of South Vietnamese paratroopers sent to hold Fire Base Charlie. And in 1982, his Blue Mountain (also from Unicorn) ably demonstrated the growth of his own poetry over the years. as men whose duty it was to kill me filed by. hell was fighting whom? to remember While the ordinary soldier, who offered up his all. I do this under the biggest tree, He aims. Even before 1972 ended, D. C. Berrys saigon cemetery appeared from the University of Georgia Press. 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. a damned hard time. By the time United States troops withdrew from Vietnam in 1973, the Vietnam War had become one of the longest, most controversial conflicts in American history. an airfield mortared. 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. Seven winters have slipped away, In Rocket Attack, he first describes the death of a young Vietnamese girl, then criesout: Daughter, oh God, my daughter Viet Cong forces begin prolonged attack on US bases, such as Khe Sanh. The battle raged back and forth. All of them deal with Vietnam and its aftermath. 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. To think of killing someone makes me nervous. writing class, include The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. I stood there not so long ago. It was getting a little dicey! Duffy replied. 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