Reviews

Tyler Tichelaar, PhD reviews MTAM

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March 24, 2009

More Than a Memory: Reflections of Viet Nam
Edited by Victor R. Volkman
Modern History Press (2009)
ISBN: 9781932690651 (hardcover) $34.95
9781932690644 (paperback) $21.95

“More Than a Memory: Reflections of Viet Nam” is a stunning anthology of writings by veterans that includes first-person non-fiction narratives of serving in Vietnam, fictional stories about the war, poetry, tales of adjusting to civilian life after the war, and many memories of the war and how it continues to affect veterans’ lives today. The diversity of “More Than a Memory” provides a more thorough understanding of the war experience than any one soldier’s story could provide. Twelve authors have contributed forty-five different pieces of Vietnam war literature that leave a reader both shocked, grieving for the veterans’ experiences, and better educated about what war does to an individual and a nation.

It is impossible to discuss the merits of all the works included in this anthology. Many of the stories are what the reader might expect—depictions of veterans experiencing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder upon their return home, veterans trying to understand what it meant to have to kill other people, soldiers coping with the loss of comrades in battle, and soldiers returning home to a nation that failed to treat them with respect. In addition are many unexpected themes that add to a fuller understanding of the Vietnam War and how war haunts a person for the rest of his life. If the book is lacking in any way, it is the absence of women explaining how the war also haunted “her” life as a soldier or soldier’s wife, but that is a small complaint compared to the multiple voices in this volume.
Continue reading Tyler Tichelaar, PhD reviews MTAM →

poetry

The Beast – Doc Rich Raitano

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The Beast

It is always waiting
In the darkest corners
Of your life,
Still and silent;
Hungry and demanding.

Do not look upon it.
Do not seek its eyes,
Prepare yourself
For struggle.
Keep faint
The beating of your heart;
Still the quickness of your breath.

It waits there
Beyond your reach
With sharpened tooth
And deadly claw.
Step into its lair unprepared
And you will become
Shattered bone
And shredded flesh.

Doc Rich R
2008

Announcements, Richard Boes

Richard Boes – Above The Line

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Richard Boes (R.I.P.)
Richard Boes (R.I.P.)

This just in from Marc Levy:

Regret to inform you that Richard Boes, whose work opens More Than A Memory: Reflections of Vietnam passed away on 21 Feb 09.
________________________

Richard Boes died yesterday at the VA Hospital in Albany NY. Richard enlisted into the US Army and served in Vietnam in 1969 – 1970 with the First Air Cav. He is the author of two books, The Last Dead Soldier Left Alive (2007) a first hand inquiry into why thousands of Vietnam Veterans have committed suicide and Last Train Out (2008). Right up to his death Richard was writing a third, In the Valley of Dry Bones.

You can read Richard’s recollection “POW Remembered” which was published in the VVAW publication The Veteran in Fall 2004 (Vol. 34, No. 2)

________________________________________________

“Above the line I know enough to know I know nothing. Less is missing, no greater than the whole, hole I’m in, bullets, buttons, and apart from. I’m dumber than a stone like a crumpled page, blood for ink at the price of fleshy gooseflesh. It’s a beautiful day, yeah, but I only want out. A simple song, a clear view to the bottom, out from the glass. The water’s deep, wiggles and divides, I’m a stick in the mud, a new-found mind set. And the gold finch in a feeding frenzy smacks up against itself. All vanity is glass. There’s no one I’m looking for, but most likely Myles is dead like all us good soldiers.”
                                                                                     –Richard Boes, Last Train Out

Announcements

Press Release

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The Press Release has been posted on PRWeb for general distribution. A copy of the body text is below.

Veterans Recall Viet Nam in Diverse Poetry and Prose Anthology

Viet Nam shaped a generation, yet decades later, the soldiers’ experience remains difficult to grasp. Now fifteen veterans have collaborated in recalling, through poetry, fiction, and personal essays, their war experiences in “More Than a Memory.”

Ann Arbor, MI (PRWEB) February 23, 2009 — No book on Viet Nam has ever completely captured the experience of that war because no one can speak for every soldier. A new anthology resolves that limited viewpoint by capturing the diverse experiences of veterans in “More Than a Memory: Reflections of Viet Nam” (ISBN 9781932690644, Modern History Press, 2008). Continue reading Press Release →

poetry, Tom Skiens

Know them

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Know them

Know them as tears fill their eyes at the sight of a child while memories repeat a vision of  dead, militated, burnt children cast beside the road to Baghdad.

Know them as they smile while talking about their best friend dying.

Know them as you discover they sleep on the floor and run nightly patrols.

Know them as a slight disagreement explodes into a killing rage and the vet is stepping backwards seeking his knives and guns.

Know them as they get and lose as many different jobs as they have years separated from the war.

Know them as they condemn themselves for the smallest mistake because in their world a mistake will  kill someone.

Know them as they display anti-social and addictive behavior.

Know them as they struggle with borderline personality disorders and have extreme difficulties with interpersonal relationships.

Know them who suffer the pain as they pronounce that others deserve veterans benefits more than they do.

Know them as you ask when they fought a major battle and they say, “Last night.”

Know them as they walk in the woods while keeping a proper spacing between people they are with and constantly registering the next closest spot for cover and concealment.

Know them as they drive white knuckled, holding back the urge to “SHOUT,SHOW,AND SHOOT” at the driver who gets too close on the highway and fight the desire to swerve away from anything that might contain an IED

Know them as they travel across six states to help a friend but they would not cross the street to save their own ass.

Know them as they will not come to you for help. They are to proud.

Know them as you would your own. Provide for them for the rest of their lives the mental, medical and social tools  that reflect our ability to honor the veteran.

Know them.

Poem by Tom Skiens, with shout, show and shoot line by two tour
Afghanistan vet James Dowmen

Interviews

Levy, Skiens, Swindell interviewed on ISL

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On February 12th, 2009, Juanita Watson of Inside Scoop Live interviewed Tommy Skiens, Marc Levy, Tony Swindell, and Victor R. Volkman (Sr. Editor, Modern History Press) about their new anthology More Than A Memory: Reflections of Viet Nam.  This 45-minute interview covered a wide range of topics from the power of creative writing to free the soul to the role of warfare in a modern society.

You can Download the MP3 file
or click on the audio-player bar below to listen immediately.

poetry, Rich ("Doc") Raitano

The Last War

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When the last soldier falls
In the very last war,
That’s where you will
Find them gathered;
On the battlefield of
The final triumph.

Their restless souls
Will claim lasting rest
Peacefully waiting
Upon the earth
Where once they lived
And died.

No more sorrow…
No more broken hearts.
A river of souls as one
In victorious song;
As the final bugle calls
When the last soldier falls.
When the last soldier falls.

Doc Rich R

Dayl Wise, F.N.G., poetry

Ode to new guy

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Thin like me,
red hair, freckled,
gap between front teeth,
a Midwesterner,
forgot where.

A replacement,
you were a F.N.G.
Made us laugh,
a clown, sad
behind your mask.
Never got to know you.

Flaked out
even on easy missions.
I treated you
as a non-person,
a pariah to be shunned.

You talked too loud,
made too much noise.
Couldn’t respond
to my basic
combat commands,
fired too much ammo.

We carried you
on a poncho
for 2,000 meters,
crossing a stream,
up a hill.
Dead weight.

F.N.G.: fucking new guy

poetry, Video

Marc Levy – Poetry Reading

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This segment features Marc Levy in a poetry reading hosted by the Woodstock, NY chapter of Veterans For Peace. The host was More Than a Memory contributor Dayl Wise (fellow with long hair and beard).  The event was held  at the old Woodstock City Hall in January 2008. Philip Levine, poetry editor of Chronogram, co-ordinated it.

Marc Levy, Stories

Meet Jim Dumb

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It’s early morning in dry season. Third squad sits cross legged on a carpet of bamboo leaves. We light small chunks of C-4, boil water in canteen cups, mix in powdered coffee, drink and savor the bitter brew. We make jokes, toss C-ration cigarettes to our Kit Carson Scout. His name is Diem Diem but we call him Jim Dumb. Seventeen, thin and dark complected, on patrol our former enemy walks third in line. “Beau coup NVA,” he says, spotting week old enemy foot prints. But we like this black haired, dark-skinned young man and treat him with respect.

D’wee was better. On point he walked fast and signaled danger by flicking his wrist. He knew the jungle’s dark secrets, and kept us safe. But D’wee is dead and now there’s Jim, who smokes and smiles and wouldn’t know a bunker complex from a ’55 Chevy.

Jim Dumb drops the slender five butt packets into a clear plastic bag filled with Newport Menthols, Winston Filter Tips, No Filter Camels, Lucky Strikes, and green US Army matchbooks whose small print shouts “Close cover before striking.” He crinkles the bag shut, drops it into his pack, plucks the cigarette behind his ear, stuffs it into his mouth, lights it, takes a long drag, spews out smoke, strokes his hairless chin, looks at me. Continue reading Meet Jim Dumb →