Here, Bullet Paperback – November 1, 2005

War poetry has the tenancy to sink into the muck of premeditated maudlin mud and blood. You know, war is hell, and if you were there you feel like you should be able to break hearts and upset stomachs, gross out the pantywaists and come off like the strong survivor that you are, but Here, Bullet does not do that. I don't read a single poem that glorifies war and tries to inspire the young to join up and get themselves killed. What I read is someone who has been changed not just by war, but by words, topography, cultures, and a recognition that security and fairness are concepts that have no place in a war zone. It is important that we read the poetry of those who were there. These poems do not preach. These poems do not have an political agenda. These poems see. The poet has taken me there and doused me with buckets of fear and thought. Even a long life is short. I need poems that recognize the value of life, and how fragile life is, everywhere. I need poems that see how easily we die, and still moves me to value life. Even the poem where the soldier seems to invite the bullet to enter his body. . . Here. Bullet I'm right here, waiting for you. Even such a concept helps me, hints to me how conflicting all conflicts are, especially conflicts of war

i don't think i have ever read a book that so clearly tells what war is really about - i keep rereading two of the poems and am so sad and so mad at the people who, apparently without thinking or a clue send these people off. the death of thalia and then lt. jacksons hands - how can anyone forget that. god, the man was blowing soap bubbles out the window to give the children something to enjoy and see something good. and the grandma and grandson - i hope someone can forgive us and give these men and women and their families some peace

Subject aside, this is raw poetry. It is bare. It is honest. It has all the marks of a true theophany: the mystery that attracts irresistably, and the horror that repels, that paralyzes with trembling fear at the same time. If you cannot have the experience itself, or if you want to read someone elses notes on an incomprehensible experience you've shared with them, you will want to read this. Most "great" poetry about world shaking events was written decades, if not centuries, after the event. There is, however, a short shelf of poetry written by the people who were there, written when it happened. i think people hesistate to call it "great" because it lacks the essential distance of greatness. That does not make it any less personal, any less human, any less intense--and a hundred times more fundamentally human. Reading this, I'm reminded of the overwhelming effect the Crusades had on European culture. The conquorers were conquored one by one, and Western culture is all the greater for it. I hope Brian Turner goes on to cast this writer's eye on every detail of the remainder of his life. The everyday life he grew up in the US with is no less worthy than the life he experienced over there--after all, THAT is the life millions have grown up with as everyday, by definition. Yet look at how extraordinary.

Although Brian Turner holds an MFA, his poetry does not suffer from "MFA-itis": no strained metaphors, no fractured sentence structure, no scrambled grammar, no forced ambiguities, and no exaltation of the trivial to no good purpose. Instead, this clear-eyed poet gives us in simple, direct language with common, unvarnished images all the miraculous beauty of daily life mutilated by all the savagery of which human beings are capable. And that's a lot of beauty and a lot of savagery. For example, his vivid poem, "2000 lbs.," captures the explosive dissolution of individual worlds (as opposed to those of community and state) as well as any poet since Homer. This powerful collection of poems should be required reading in all high school history classes (do high schools still teach history?) and for all Congressmen. And maybe even for Presidents and their advisors who have never served in the military. Turner won the 2005 Beatrice Hawley Award with this book. He should've picked up a Pulitzer, as well.

Brian Turner puts you right in the middle and on the sidelines of the battlefield. This is a powerful poetry book. Even if you do not like poetry, I recommend at least giving this poetry collection a read. Wow... just wow!

Worth having. War experiences put into poetry, makes for quite the experience. Manages to be beautiful through so much pain. Being a poet and a warrior, the author strikes strangely at hope for mangled souls and lands.

This is a fantastic collection of poems about the war in Iraq, written by a US soldier who happens to have a MFA in creative writing. I think The New York Times Book Review said it best when they wrote: "The day of the first moonwalk, my father's college literature professor told his class, 'Someday they'll send a poet, and we'll find out what it's really like.'" I've read a lot of books about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but this one describes the visuals and the emotions of it in a way that really reaches into your heart and mind and touches it in a way that only poetry can.

Jean Cocteau has written "The poet doesn't invent. He listens." Brian Turner demonstrates the truth of this idea in his 2005 Beatrice Hawley award-winning book "Here, Bullet" as he listens, and records, voices of palm trees, zoo animals, dying soldiers, women hanging out laundry, Arab poets, and his own soul. If you want to move behind the daily news to gain both a historical and a contemporary sense of Iraq and Islam, if you can face the pain and beauty of centuries of stark geography and its influence on people, and if you are searching for truth and hope in a quagmire, buy and read "Here, Bullet". This is not a book to check out of the library for an overnight read - although libraries owe it to their patrons to buy a dozen copies. This is a book to own and ponder.

I first learnt about Here, Bullet by way of a radio programme discussion. I was impressed with what I heard and immediately vowed to read it as soon as I could. Having read the book I must say that it fulfilled my expectations.This collection of poems is set mainly in Iraq in the context of war. The author, Brian Turner, served 7 years in the US army part of which was served in Iraq as an infantry team leader. Although the experiences which Turner talks about in the collection are mainly set in the context of the Iraqi war, it would be a mistke to say that the whole collection is about war. In terms of conveying the human condition, the poems are far reaching.The poems in this book are derived from the personal experiences of Turner. He has a keen eye for detail. He has the imagination to render his experience in lively images that made me feel as if I was there along side him directly partaking in his experiences.Turner is a brilliant observer, he bears direct witness to events and actions. For example, in the poem, In the Leupold Scope Turner "travse the Halabjah skyline/scanning rooftops two thousands meters out" or in Observation Post # 71, Turner sees positive aspects of life even among the destruction of war. In the second stanza he tells us: "Each life has its moment. The sunflowers/ lift their faces toward dawn/ as milk cows bellow in a field of trash."There is also the wanton destruction and waste of life nowhere better suggested than in the title poem Here, Bullet. This destruction and waste of life is conveyed through a powerful theme that runs through many of these poems. Turner reminds us that we are made of flesh and blood. He exposes us to the frailty of the human body in the arena of war. In poems such as Here, Bullet and the Hurt Locker, Turner graphically reveals how the body is shattered when exposed to the machines of war.This collection of poems engaged me both intellectually and emotioanally. The poems Body Bags and A B Negative quite simply arrested me and made me pause to reflect upon what Turner was doing. These two poems superbly explores the harsh reality of death in war. In Body Bags, bodies: "look as if they might roll over,/ wake from a dream and question us/ about the blood drying on their scalps,/ the bullets lodged in the back of their skulls." Yet on the other hand, Turner recognizes that the arena of war is a test bed that sometimes brings out the humanity in us. I dare any sensitive reader to fail to empathize with the surgeon, in the poem A B Negative, who we are told end up as: "an exhausted surgeon in tears,/ his bloodied hands on her chest, his head/ sunk down, the nurse guiding him to a nearby seat and holding him as he cries."These are accessible poems. They have a clear setting, they are time bound and we know the predominant subject. But they are not simple tales of war. Turner is perceptive, subtle, appropriately complex and sophisticated when he has to be. For example, some of these poems paint pictures for us. It's as if they set out to create a firm vivid picture in our minds. The second stanza of 16 Iraqi Policemen is like a surrealist painting. It is not too difficult to conjure up an almost unreal, unnatural scene.If I have any criticism of the collection it is this, there is a tone of acceptance of the most destructive consequence of war - namely death. In many of the first person narrated poems the I of the poem, whoever that is, appears to accept his lot and death all too easily. In Here, Bullet the body as: "bone and gristle and flesh" is surrendered; in Repatriation Day, the narrator "wants to lie down among them,/ to be wrapped in sheets like the flags/ of nations, bonded in light and shadow."I could go on singing the praise of this collection but I am restricted by word limit. I was touched; I was emotionally and intellectually engaged. This is an outstanding collection of poems - buy it, read it and marvel in the fact that there is a contemporary poet among us with something to say about war and says it brilliantly.

This is one of the most moving and profound collections of poetry I've read in a very long time. And it's certainly the best collection of war poetry since Wilfred Owen. He tells it as it is, without sentimentality or a conscious desire to shock. What we feel is the pity of war as well as the horror of it at a very personal level. As Owen said 'the pity is in the poetry'.I particularly liked the quotes from Iraqi and Persian poets and the way the poet integrates what he is writing into their traditions as if having a conversation with them.Everyone should read this. We might be less keen to send young men to be torn apart and psychologically maimed in the name of some grand political ideology.

This is the most hauntingly beautiful and heartbreaking collection of poetry I have read in years. I return to it time and again. It is intelligent, sensitive and overflowing with humanity.I thought poetry was virtually dead until I reread it recently. Is war poetry the purest, the most honest genre there is?

Brian Turner's intensely moving poems of the war in Iraq are finely observed,compassionate and questioning. He shows a appreciation and fascination for the culture of the people and the land as well as the tough camaraderie of the soldiers with whom he served. A soldier who saw active service in Iraq, these poems convey more deeply the brutal poignancy of warthan any news report. The language is direct, strong and compelling. This collection places Brian Turner in the company of the great war poets.

I first discovered Brian Turner's work after reading his essay in National Geographic magazine. What harrowing, heartbreaking scenes these poems conjure up!Turner is a gifted writer, an observant and intuitive artist and, clearly, a very sensitive human being. His work is an important document and is as vivid and evocative as the best photojournalism.