Scream Wounds, Part 1: What Is a Scream Wound?

Scream Wounds, Part 1: What Is a Scream Wound?

A scream wound is a wound so painful that even a hardened combat soldier cannot help but scream from the pain. When I first heard that phrase, I knew it had to be the title of my new book of poems based on veterans' stories about Vietnam and other wars. It is the perfect metaphor for the Vietnam War: a wound that makes me want to scream.

I have personal scream wounds as well. Earlier in my blog I mentioned two friends of mine who died in Vietnam: Billy Cyr and Bubbles Napierata. We played on the same Boys Club basketball team together. I also lost a great college friend: George Fell. He died in Cambodia while I was getting laid in Saigon. A fourth friend, Ozzie Connors, died several years after the war from wounds he suffered in the war itself.

I might even call some of my wounds crying wounds because they make me want to cry. Some day I just may do that in the middle of a reading.

There are scream wounds for what is happening in the world today. A friend of mine said that her scream wound was hearing about a second mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, right after one in El Paso, Texas. I have no argument with that choice.

Maybe we all have scream wounds inside of us.

Here are links to my new book and ebook:

https://www.amazon.com/Scream-Wounds-...


https://www.amazon.com.au/kindle/dp/B...