Gary Mesick
I didn’t, really. I have a lot of poems that have nothing to do with my military experience. But once I had published quite a few poems in literary journals, I felt it was time to collect some of them in a book. I organized them in a few ways before I realized I had such a large number of military poems.
Those poems came about in part because the military is, as we used to say, a “target-rich environment” for the kind of paradox I’m drawn to. Here’s a war protester who grows up to become a soldier. There’s a coward who joins the infantry. Here’s a guy who captures the enemy while sleeping on duty. There’s a boxer who doesn’t want to throw a punch.
But also, I think, I saw that this perspective on things was a bit unusual. Soldiers have been writing poetry forever, but people still need to be reminded that soldiers, veterans, are intelligent, sensitive, articulate people—who just happen to know five ways to kill you with their bare hands (I couldn’t resist—another paradox, you know?)
Those poems came about in part because the military is, as we used to say, a “target-rich environment” for the kind of paradox I’m drawn to. Here’s a war protester who grows up to become a soldier. There’s a coward who joins the infantry. Here’s a guy who captures the enemy while sleeping on duty. There’s a boxer who doesn’t want to throw a punch.
But also, I think, I saw that this perspective on things was a bit unusual. Soldiers have been writing poetry forever, but people still need to be reminded that soldiers, veterans, are intelligent, sensitive, articulate people—who just happen to know five ways to kill you with their bare hands (I couldn’t resist—another paradox, you know?)
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