Taps on the Walls: Poems from the Hanoi Hilton

by John Borling

How did a prisoner of war survive six years and eight months of soul-crushing imprisonment and torture in the Hanoi Hilton during the Vietnam War? By writing poetry. And how did he do it without pencil or paper?

Then-captain John Borling “wrote” and memorized poems to keep his mind sharp and his spirits up. He shared his creations with fellow captives by their only means of communication—the forbidden POW tap code. Rapping on the cell walls with his knuckles, Borling tapped poems—certainly of pain and despair, but also of humor, encouragement and hope—to keep everyone’s strength and spirits alive.

With a foreword by fellow POW, Senator John McCain, Taps on the Walls contains all the poems General Borling created during his confinement. Readers will discover remarkable stories of endurance, life lessons, and means to achieve personal triumph.

The pen is truly mightier than the sword. No matter that the pen was only a mind and scarred knuckles and the sword, painful and interminable captivity.

Genres: Poetry, Military History, War

181 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 10, 2013

Reviews

[Mitzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. What can you say critically about poetry written by an pilot shot down and in an Hanoi war prison? All alone in a cell with a bucket, the only way to keep sane was to be mentally active. So he created poems and shared them by tapping them on the walls to the other prisoners. It is a great story in of itself. And the poems, with strokes of brilliancy here and there, are interesting enough. My main bone of contention is with the set-up. So many of the poems require insider knowledge of the airman's lingo and while there was a glossary in the back, it was a pain to constantly flip back and forth--plus there was no telling if a phrase was part lingo or poetry or what. It would have read MUCH better with footnotes. And, honestly, as much as I wanted to like and be inspired by his poetry, except for a few lines here and there, I was underwhelmed. I think it was more his incredible story rather than the merits of his poetry that got him published. But see, I feel like a cad even admitting that much...

[Sherri Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The poems were great but read the glossary in the back first if you are not military.

[Grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Indomitable Human Spirit

Reading TAPS ON THE WALL: POEMS FROM THE HANOI HILTON is a mesmerizing and humbling experience. Perhaps the story of John Borling during his six year eight month imprisonment in North Vietnam's `Hanoi Hilton' will be most pertinent to those of us who served in the Vietnam experience: that threat of capture and torture and abusive imprisonment by the North Vietnamese forces was an obvious ever-present fear for everyone who served in that absurd conflict no matter in what capacity. But to read this book of poetry used as a means of communication among the prisoners while they endured subhuman living conditions and punishment once again demonstrates that man, when put to the test, can find ways to survive about any assault - given courage and hope and faith and camaraderie.

Borling's poetry is not great poetry but that is not really a part of the evaluation of this book. The fact that he was able to memorize these poems, tap them to his fellow otherwise isolated prisoners as a means of sharing that spirit of survival almost defies credibility. Yet here are some of his best and should be sampled:
THE TOURNEY
The scepter raised and silent challenge made,
Again I mental summon lance and shield,
And somehow last till regal colors fade.
It's now, the victor absent from the field,
Hard pallet draws me, huddled down upon,
A distant tower tolls a muffled chime;
Another muddled day has eddied on
To join the addled streams of tousled time.
Embittered languor blankets captive man;
So armored, sally forth at dawn, consigned
To stand alone, and parry best I can
Until appointed tourney's end, resigned.
For time's an old and boring enemy.
Too cruel to kill forgotten men like me.

SONNET 4 45 43 (IN TAP CODE) SONNET FOR US
The world without, within our weathered walls,
Remote, like useless windows, small and barred.
Here, months and years run quickly down dim halls,
But days, the daze, the empty days come hard.
I used to count a lot, count everything,
Like exercise and laps, and words of prayer.
What hurt that hunger, thoughts and that thirst can bring,
Companions, waking, sleeping, always there.
But policy insanities unwind,
Till bad is good and betterment is worse.
So refuge blanket, net, and molding mind
Create a mingling dream-real universe.
I'm told that steel is forged by heavy blows.
If only men were steel, but then, who knows?

Borling is most cogent in the Introduction and Epilogue he has written for this book. In his words, now displaced from the horrors of his experience, where light comes in to put things in perspective, Borling writes eloquently, somehow adding to the poignancy of the poetry he has finally agreed to share. Read, read aloud, and remember.

Grady Harp

[Lewis McIntyre · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book of poems were composed entirely by memory by a USAF officer while a POW in Viet Nam and transmitted and shared by "tap code" among the other prisoners. Not until after their release were they written down. One might feel that the poems would be dark and introspective, but they are quite the opposite: rollickingly hilarious sea stories, narrow escapes while flying, ghostly meetings with WWII crews that take him on a night time sortie of WWII scrapped aircraft from "The Boneyard" at Davis-Monthan. Only a handful reminisce about the times around holidays when he thinks of the family he may never again see.

[Yvonne Schuchart · Rating 5 out of 5]

A suprising little gem of a book of poetry. A military man with a way with words that invites you into the cockpit. Borling and his fellow POWs devised a unique way of communicating with each other under impossible circumstances and it kept them alive! Thank you Ret. Major Gen. John Borling for your service and all the courageous men who serve our country, past and present. But especially those who spent so many months and years imprisoned in foreign lands.

If you like poetry that's real, gritty, witty, full of romance, danger, desperation... You'll love Borling's Taps on the Walls.

[Ruth York · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a nice collection of poetry, written by the author when he was imprisoned at the infamous "Hanoi Hilton." They are less about the trials of his years there, and more about his military life and messages home. The men developed a system of tapping on the walls for communication, and he memorized his poems, as well as his fellow soldiers, so that if one were able to get back home, the messages could be passed along. The ingeniousness of their system and their resilience are remarkable. The fact that some of the poems even have any levity in them is amazing.

[Carol Higgins · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Borling's story is amazing. The poems he wrote in his mind, shared with fellow POWs and later remembered in order to put on paper are heartfelt and sincere. Once again society can see the damages of the Vietnam War.

[Arlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

"It's a piece of my soul. More than that, it's a piece of our collective soul." These are the words of retired Air Force Major General John Borling describing his writings in the book "Taps on the Walls: Poems from the Hanoi Hilton". A big thanks to the author and his wife who decided to publish these poems now, forty years after the release of the POW's; also thanks to Senator John McCain for encouraging this publication. These poems and the manner in which they were conceived and written tell a remarkable and inspirational personal and interpersonal story, unlike any other told about the Vietnam War experience. This book is clearly a five-star reading considering the circumstances of its creation, however, readers unfamiliar with Air Force terminology and fighter pilot slang might consider it a three or four star as it is difficult to fully comprehend without continually referring to the glossary for clarification on acronyms and certain expressions.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you for writing your Taps down for us. This is a collection of great contemporary poetry that makes you laugh,cry and think about war and the politics of war and how nuts(in the great Battle of the Bulge way) you pilots were.Thank God! I highly recommend this book of poetry for anyone, but particularly for anyone who was around during the Vietnam War Era. I had friends who fought and died, and I had a bracelet.We will never forget.
My favorites were The Boneyard and Southeast Asia Story and The Virtue of a Snowball, The Other Christmas and The Journey.Bravo!

[Gary Misch · Rating 5 out of 5]

This isn't your usual poetry book. The author was a prisoner at the Hanoi Hilton, so those poems "written" there had to be memorized. "Taps on the wall" refers to the code used by prisoners to communicated from cell to cell. The book is a deck plate view of the Vietnam war, mostly from the POW's point of view, though some of the pieces describe experiences outside of prison. It's excellent, but not necessarily for the faint of heart. The writers take no position on the war.

[Wanda Shuster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, inspiring and heartfelt.

[Deirdre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stirring and powerful. A must for any classroom curriculum!

[Marguerite · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book was very good. I found it hard to get through as I lost a classmate in that war and know many who were not welcomed home.