Tuesday Poem: Brian Turner, Here Bullet

I've only recently discovered the work of US poet Brian Turner, and I've been completely knocked out by it.
Brian Turner served as a US soldier in the middle east and in the Bosnian war in Yugoslavia.   Everything in these poems he has seen, heard or felt.  The first collection Here Bullet comes from his active service, the second, Phantom Noise, from the trauma of trying to reintegrate into civilian life afterwards.  This is war poetry on a par with Wilfred Owen and Keith Douglas.

Most impressive of all is the way that Brian Turner meshes his poetry with the poetry of the arab world, where poets have been writing about the conflict for a long time.



I've written more about his two collections on my book blog.

You can read six poems from the collection 'Here Bullet' on this link - all re-printed with permission

http://gocomics.typepad.com/the_sandbox/2009/02/here-bullet.html 

For more wonderful poetry from around the world, take a look at the Tuesday Poem website and check out the sidebar where Tuesday Poets post their contributions.