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MWSA Review
Moments around the Campfire with a Vietnam Veteran is appealing to Vietnam veterans and others who want to understand more about what the Vietnam War experience was like for some U.S. veterans. The premise is that a mysterious, aging, rather ghostly Vietnam veteran appears at a young couple's campfire in the woods and gives them a folder of poems he's written in the years since his return from Vietnam. He drops off the poems and disappears into the darkness, never to be seen again. The book is purported to be those poems.
The style is freeform, each poem is independent of the others, and all are sad or disturbing in their nature. The book has its “moments,” like the very last—a poem called "MIA." In this poem, the author describes a middle-aged Vietnam veteran, who is simultaneously a young man full of hope and optimism, as he was before going to war, and his current older self, scarred by war and life. His two personas struggle to coexist within the same person. However, most of the poems, rather than being creative, are observational or reactive and have dark subjects with no lessons learned or conclusions drawn. The ghostly poet's attitude throughout is simply that of disinterested observer. It is possible that the author wanted to expose the emptiness within some veterans of the Vietnam War (and by extension, all wars), a message that in order to survive emotionally, some veterans became as uncaring as the ghostly poet.
Review by Jamie Thompson (April 2021)
Author's Synopsis
Brucie's poems reveal a story-vision of sadness, loss, discovery, and renewal divulged through the voice of a ghost veteran of the Vietnam War. Poet Lana Wiggins wrote, "These poems took my breath away." Poet Maria Mazziotti Gillan, American Book Award winner, declared, "This is one of the best books of war poems I've ever read. I promise, you won't be able to put it down."
ISBN/ASIN: 9780988709430
Book Format(s): Soft cover
Review Genre: Poetry—Poetry Book
Number of Pages: 56