Benjamin L L itibaren Dubrovskiy, Rostovskaya oblast', Rusland, 346185 itibaren Dubrovskiy, Rostovskaya oblast', Rusland, 346185

Here, Bullet by Brian Turner, who served in the U.S. army for seven years after receiving his MFA and was a team leader for one year in Iraq with the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, won the 2005 Beatrice Hawley Award and was printed by Alice James Books — a nonprofit cooperative poetry press. (The title poem, “Here, Bullet,” was recently profiled in the Virtual Poetry Circle.) The collection is broken down into four sections, and each section is preceded by a quote relevant to it, with some even quoting the Qur’an. Turner is adept at illustrating the violence of war, but also the humanity that accompanies it. From the startling nature of rockets going off over head to the silence of bullets as they enter the body, he provides a keen eye into how those instruments of war impact both sides of the battle equally psychologically, physically, and spiritually. Soldiers who craft wartime poetry have generally either fallen into the category of using graphic violence to shock and awe the reader or using quieter imagery to bring about reader understanding about psychological impacts of battle. There also are those that have political poems that are heavy on criticism or propaganda, but those would fall less into the wartime poetry category. Turner combines both violence and peace in his imagery, but in a unique way that has violence silently creeping into the lines and shocking readers. For instance, in “Eulogy” (page 20), readers may hardly notice the suicide of Private Miller because he takes “brass and fire into his mouth,” but once the birds fly up off the water by the sound, it is clear the brass and fire are from a gun. While outright, violent images can be eye-opening for readers, the quiet power in some of Turner’s lines are that much more lasting. Read the full review: http://savvyverseandwit.com/2011/08/h...

Though dated at times (mainly nearer the begining) I really liked Salem's Lot. Good solid story-telling, a nice update to the vampire mythology and certainly one of King's less weird books.

La and I loved it.