Four years ago I was introduced to the poetry of Brian Turner, an infantry team leader in the U.S. Army who served for one year in Iraq. His book of poetry Here, Bullet, published in 2005, serves as a reflection of his time spent in Iraq. What’s great about his poetry is its accessibility. He reaches his audience without being condescendingly obvious or overly graphic. Turner manages to capture the unfortunate realities of serving in war-torn Iraq. His poem “What Every Soldier Should Know” is particularly eye opening, and is able to grab readers’ attentions by making his observations short and sweet (well, ok, sweet is not exactly fitting):

If you hear gunfire on a Thursday afternoon,

it could be for a wedding, or it could be for you.

…

You will hear the RPG coming for you.

Not so the roadside bomb.

…

Small children who will play with you,

old men with their talk, women who offer their chai–

and any one of them

may dance over your body tomorrow.

What I find most appealing about Turner’s poetry is that he uses simple diction, making his poetry all the more powerful. He is straight forward and unapologetic. He lays out vivid scenes for his reader and leaves them open to individual interpretation. And, what I find particularly affective, is his unexpected phrases. War poetry can sometimes feel formulaic or give you the sense of, “saw that coming,” but Turner successfully avoids that.

The book focuses heavily on the experiences of an soldier, but does not disregard the Iraqi people. Turner intersperses his poems with quotes from the Qur’an, and Iraqi poets and historians, among others. He also includes Arabic words and customs in his poems. It adds another layer of reality and respectability to his poetry. He acknowledges the Iraqi culture, and writes about the importance of respecting it:

Always enter a home with your right foot;

the left is for cemeteries and unclean places

(”What Every Soldier Should Know”)

Typically this isn’t the sort of book I would choose to read on my own, admittedly, it was assigned, but I enjoyed it more than I expected and would recommend it to anyone, regardless of your preference to prose or poetry. My only issue with the book is that some of the terms can be alienating. The military abbreviations and references I don’t know off the top of my head, but that’s what a dictionary is for. Not knowing all the vocabulary is not a deterrent from reading Turner’s poetry.

Whether in support of the war or not, involved in the U.S. military or not, nationalist or not, Brian Turner’s Here, Bullet is worth a look, or a quick skim over at the bookstore, at the very least. The book may be four years old, but is still just as relevant and just as deserving of its literary acclaim today.

Elizabeth Bologna