From Both Sides Now The Poetry of the Vietnam War and Its Aftermath

by Mahony, Philip

• ISBN13: 9780684849478
• ISBN10: 068484947X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-11-02
• Publisher: Scribner

Summary

The Vietnam War, America's longest -- and in some ways most devastating -- conflict, changed the course of a generation and left millions wondering, "Why?" Here, in the first-ever collection of poetry from both sides of the war, Vietnamese and American poets use their art to ponder this haunting question. Chronologically arranged to mirror the progression of the war,From Both Sides Nowbrings together a wide variety of opposing views, with poetry by American and Vietnamese soldiers, orphans, widows, priests, monks, political figures, and antiwar protesters. In addition to including extraordinary works from well-known poets such as Bruce Weigl, Margaret Atwood, Yusef Komunyakaa, Sharon Olds, Robert Bly, Allen Ginsberg, Grace Paley, Philip Levine, and W. S. Merwin, editor Phillip Mahony has scoured the globe to find amazing and, in some cases, never-before-published poetry by North and South Vietnamese soldiers and poets and the first postwar generation of Vietnamese-Americans. Together the words of these poets cohere to a modern, many-voiced epic about the most important event in recent American history. Poignant and accessible, the poems collected here will leave an indelible impact on all readers -- not only poetry lovers but everyone who lived through, and those who want to learn about, the Vietnam War.

Table of Contents

Introduction

To bear Any Burdenr

"For the Memory of Thich Quang Duc"Trinh

"For Love of Another"

"A Nun in Ninh Hoa"

"When"

"Gulf of Tonkin"Walter

"Flight Orders"Truong Quoc Khanh

"Devotion"

"What Saves Us"

"Doctor Able"

"Embarkation"Xuan Moi

"Departure"

"Columns"

"On the Yellow Footprints"

"Jump School -- First Day"

"Before Going"

"Knowledge"

"Red Horse"

"Untitled" ("so for some unknown reason")HHT

"The Sea and the Sands"

"Entry"

"New Guy"

"Girl at the Chu Lai Laundry"

"Pointman"Thien Ly

"Poem of Hope"

"First Encounter"

"Corporal Thach: First Confirmed NVA Kill"

"The First"

"First One"

"First Casualty"

"It Don't Mean Nothin"

Just A Touch On The Trigger

"Of Late"

"Norman Morrison"Nhat Chi Mai

"I Kneel Down and Pray"

"The Insert"

"Taking Aim"

"The Next Step"

"Humpin' Through the Boonies"

"No Slack"Ky Niem Thanh Dang

"A Young Man's Recollection"

"No Lie, GI"

"Guerrilla War"

"Luck"

"Condemnation"

"Schoolday in Man Quang"

"Imaginary Universes,"

"We Never Know"

"Blood Trail"

"Intelligence"

"Untitled" ("We found him")Nguyen Dinh Thi

"Yearning"

"War Story"

"Counting Small-Boned Bodies"Nguyen Ngoc Phuong

"My Blood, My Bones"

"The Woman He Killed"

"Where Does It End?"Giang Nam

"Night Crossing"Tran Da Tu

"Gifts as Tokens of Love"

"Caves"

"Tunnels"

"The Labyrinth"

"Search and Destroy"Thai Nguyen

"Let Us Stand Up"

"Viper"

"Banded Kraits"

"The Homesick Patrol"

"Ambush"

"Near Laos"

"Ambush"Lieutenant Nguyen van Nghia

"I Stand Here"Nhat Hanh

"Lament of Ben Hai River"Te Hanh

"Home"Lieutenant Nguyen van Nghia

"From My Heart of Hearts"Unknown

"Postscript After

No Matter What We Do

"Work"

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