A Soldier S Book Of Poems

Having been medically released from the Canadian Armed Forces after 33 years of service, I found myself dealing with the realities of no longer being able to work, a continually deteriorating state of health, and a significant amount of time on my hands. These poems were an outlet for my pent-up emotions. Importantly, these poems were written while in a deep depression and with heavy substance us/abuse. They are raw, abstract at times, mostly unedited and get dark at the end. Read them as I wrote them. That is where my mind was at the time.

The astonishing, powerful debut by the winner of a 2016 Whiting Writers' Award WHEREAS her birth signaled the responsibility as mother to teach what it is to be Lakota therein the question: What did I know about being Lakota? Signaled panic, blood rush my embarrassment. What did I know of our language but pieces? Would I teach her to be pieces? Until a friend comforted, Don’t worry, you and your daughter will learn together. Today she stood sunlight on her shoulders lean and straight to share a song in Diné, her father’s language. To sing she motions simultaneously with her hands; I watch her be in multiple musics. —from “WHEREAS Statements” WHEREAS confronts the coercive language of the United States government in its responses, treaties, and apologies to Native American peoples and tribes, and reflects that language in its officiousness and duplicity back on its perpetrators. Through a virtuosic array of short lyrics, prose poems, longer narrative sequences, resolutions, and disclaimers, Layli Long Soldier has created a brilliantly innovative text to examine histories, landscapes, her own writing, and her predicament inside national affiliations. “I am,” she writes, “a citizen of the United States and an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, meaning I am a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation—and in this dual citizenship I must work, I must eat, I must art, I must mother, I must friend, I must listen, I must observe, constantly I must live.” This strident, plaintive book introduces a major new voice in contemporary literature.

Our freedom is not free Go to any cemetery and see Look for any serviceman's grave See what price he had to pay Freedom comes at a high cost. Men and women are willing to fight and die for our great country, and they encounter some of the greatest emotional struggles of all. Soldiers have families and loved ones they miss dearly while miles away in the heart of battle. Soldiers have lost friends while fighting. Soldiers have formed lifelong friendships with those that make it through the battle with them. Here, in A Soldier's Poem Book, readers will gain insight into the heart of mind of some of our country's finest, the ones willing to pay the price for the freedom we enjoy. Many times, long after the battles end, these are the thoughts of a dedicated soldier, husband, father, and God-fearing man. These pages are a reminder that many have served and many more will serve to keep our country strong under God.

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet James Tate returns with his fifteenth book of poetry, an exciting new collection that offers nearly one hundred fresh and thought-provoking pieces that embody Tate's trademark style and voice: his accessibility, his dark humor, and his exquisite sense of the absurd. Tate's work is stark—he writes in clear, everyday language—yet his seemingly simple and macabre stories are layered with broad and trenchant meaning. His characters are often lost or confused, his settings bizarre, his scenarios brilliantly surreal. Opaque, inscrutable people float through a dreamlike world where nothing is as it seems. The Ghost Soldiers offers resounding proof, once again, that Tate stands alone in American poetry.

Hearts of Soldiers is a book of poems that portray the hearts of many human beings that struggle every day with their emotional and mental thoughts. Their struggles that thrives from pain they have consumed from many hurtful events in their lives. Soldiers are people who are in the front line of battles which positions them to witness, experience and feel painful events in this world. This book shows us that everyone is a soldier fighting a battle within ourselves and what we go through gives us a whole new perspective of life and our place in this world. This book is for the people who struggle with their pain, love, insecurities and the search for their purpose but wake up hoping for a brighter day with the strength to carry on the fight. There is a poem for everyone in this book and it is open to interpretation. Find the poem that opens you and inspires your heart.

A Soldier’s Thoughts (About the Book) The poetry with the Soldier’s thoughts has different levels of inspirational momentum that draws each individual’s imagination. The thoughts of time reflect on daydreaming, and when it comes to everyday life, this would help the readers’ to see what poem they can relate to that makes someone wonder. The soldier’s poetry and the food service poem aim to open the reality that happens. The love poems is to express how difficult love can be, where forever in time are share with new inspiring poets. Last but least there is the literature of the mind, these series of poems were intended to draw out the readers own interpretation on what the author is actually saying. Now, take time and explore through “A Soldier’s thoughts in Poetry”.

At age nineteen, Hugh Martin withdrew from college for deployment to Iraq. After training at Fort Bragg, Martin spent 2004 in Iraq as the driver of his platoon sergeant's Humvee. He participated in hundreds of missions including raids, conducting foot patrols, clearing routes for IEDs, disposing of unexploded ordnance, and searching thousands of Iraqi vehicles. These poems recount his time in basic training, his preparation for Iraq, his experience withdrawing from school, and ultimately, the final journey to Iraq and back home to Ohio. Hugh Martin holds an MFA from Arizona State University. He is a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University.

Veterans of the Vietnam Conflict When I was Young and Wild; No longer a Child, I went to War with my Brothers. From the North, East, the South and the West; we were, America s best. Many lost their Girls and Wives to Jody; along with their Booty! He was their best friend! While we were away, Jody did play! We went to fight; for you, and the Red White and Blue. We were taught: To shoot between the eyes, that way we knew they would die! We were highly trained in Weapons of Mass Destruction and, Combat (Hand to Hand)! Bullets would scream by our heads, one Inch closer, we d be dead. The sounds of the Big Guns would pierce our Ear Drums. Bombs and Napalm would fall from the Sky: Many men died on both sides; No matter how much, they tried to hide! Booby Traps and Land Mines were all around, on Tree Trunks, in and on the ground. Atop the Trees, Charlie would wait for us, to take his Bait. Immersed in Water; with Weapons above our heads, slowly we moved, make NO sound or we d be dead. Our way through Villages we made: Children approached us with Grenades. Charlie would hide everywhere, of our Soldiers, they were scared! The Cong were famous for the Tunnels in the ground, in our Tunnel Rats they were Bound, Armed with only a 45, they left no none alive! The Jungles were full of Tigers and Snakes, our Lives they could take! Those 2 days in the Rear; the Women we had to fear! "5 Dollars GI, Me make You Feel Real Good"! Entice us they would! Inside them; a Razor Blade they would embed, as to make Us Dead! Our Tracers Red, their Tracers Green, in the night they could be seen! To Fight at Night, No Moon light, 'twas a Terrible Fright! Our MOTTO was: NEVER GIVE UP NOR ADMIT DEFEAT! There was No Call for Retreat! As We Charged Into Battle, We would Yell: REMEMBER THE BLACK HORSE ! WE LL SEE YOU IN HELL! We were the Cav, the 11th Cav. No fight did we Loose, Most Fights we did choose. A Solider Then, A Solider Now,