• "Deeply Dug In" by R. L. Barth - Vietnam War poems

    From a425couple@21:1/5 to All on Mon Jan 31 19:46:28 2022
    XPost: alt.war.vietnam

    "Deeply Dug In" by R. L. Barth
    Interesting book - short poems.

    Thirty-five years ago R. L. Barth was a Marine patrol leader in the
    First Reconnaissance Battalion in Vietnam. Today he is a poet's poet who articulates the harsh realities and ironies of war in the style of the
    great classical satirists. Barth writes about Vietnam, but his soldier's
    take on the war is startlingly applicable to the conflicts of the
    twenty-first century or to any war that happens to be going on.

    "I never once saw dying eyes / That were not stunned or shattered by
    surprise." That is just as it is, never mind all the dulce et decorum exhortations of politicians, who today as always clamor to kill us all.
    In this slender but rich collection of poems, R. L. Barth proves himself
    a worthy descendant of Martial and Archilochus, lobbing grenades at what Kenneth Rexroth called the Social Lie, capturing moments of grace and
    disgrace in combat, and locating the Homeric nobility of ordinary
    soldiers under fire. As he does, he honors the language. Read him, eyes
    wide open, and understand."--Gregory McNamee, editor of The Desert Reader

    "An inventive and resourceful poet. . . . very discreet . . . his lines
    are built out of images balanced by concepts, each giving weight to the
    other. . . . Poet or not, Barth was in charge of an elite fighting group
    that stayed out longer than other units. . . . Many died, including a
    friend of Barth's memorialized in 'Elegy for a Dead Friend,' one of the
    best war poems in English."--Thomas D'Evelyn, Christian Science Monitor

    https://www.amazon.com/Deeply-Mary-Burritt-Christiansen-Poetry/dp/0826331823

    Many Viet Nam War veterans write poetry, but very few write with the
    power, passion and skill of R. L. Barth. A trained classicist, Barth is
    at his best when writing in the epigrammatic tradition of Simonides,
    Martial, and Pope, although this collection does include a few somewhat
    longer narrative and lyric poems. Barth writes with savage indignation,
    acute wit, and wonderful control of language. He gives no quarter to chickenhawks who send other people to war and he refuses to accept or
    profit from our comfortable myths about war. There is little sentiment
    here, and no self pity. Most veteran poetry will be forgotten, but
    surely not Barth's. These poems are not about Viet Nam, but about war,
    human nature, and society.

    This site gives the ability to read a fair number of the poems:

    https://books.google.com/books?id=wnZL_QcrziIC&pg=PA15&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false

    Like #6. Initial Confusion
    A sergeant barked, "Your ass is Uncle's!" though
    It wasn't clear if he meant Sam or Ho.

    #14. What is our Life?
    A rigged game with the odds not even scanty.
    Just play the joker and don't up the ante.

    #19. Epitaph
    Tell them quite simply that we died
    Thirsty, betrayed, and terrified.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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