Book Review: Acknowledgement: Poems from the 'Nam
ReviewWar has long figured as a theme in poetry - after all, some of the world's oldest surviving poems are about great armies and heroic battles. During the American Civil War, American poet Walt Whitman published his poem "Beat! Beat! Drums!" Probably the most famous nineteenth-century war poem is Lord Alfred Tennyson's Crimean War "The Charge of the Light Brigade" and Rudyard Kipling's poem "The Last of the Light Brigade," written some forty years after Tennyson's poem. The major novelist and poet Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928) wrote a number of significant war poems that relate to both the Boer Wars and World War I, including "The Man He Killed" and his somewhat ambiguous "Men Who March Away."
World War II and the Korean War produced numerous, well-received poetry, as did Vietnam. Among the latter can now be added Ray Whitaker's "Acknowledgement: Poems from the 'Nam" - a book of poetry that tells the Vietnam story from combat veterans' point of view.
Poignant and accessible, the author's poems will leave an indelible impact on all readers - not only poetry lovers but everyone who lived through the war and those who want to learn about the Vietnam War. His material came from numerous Vietnam veterans he interviewed who made up a cross-section of jobs and military services. Among them were grunts, Special Forces operators, pilots flying fix-wing and helicopters, medics, and a nurse.
Whitaker's poems evoke, among other things, the extreme violence of the fighting, the unforgettable stench of death, and the irreversible destruction of a way of life. Topics include the bond between soldiers, the mourning of the dead, and the psychological effects of combat. This unique and compelling reading experience offers both the pleasures of poetry and the revelations of history.
This is one of the very best anthologies of poetry to come out of the Vietnam War. Whitaker was able to take interviews of real-life travails and, through his unique skill in poetry, given readers the energy of their experience that transcends time and grabs your heart. Read these poems and know that you will never be the same.
Reader's Review
What a powerful book. This is a unique collection of memories, battlefield snapshots of reality, the reality of war. This is a collection of the images carried by the men and women who were there. From the words of Vietnam veterans, Ray Whitaker uses his exceptional writing ability to paint vivid word images that define the human reality all warfare. This is neither a glorification of battle nor a protest against war; it is a plea for understanding and acknowledgment of these warriors and the price they paid.
This is a book that can help families and friends of veterans from not only the Vietnam War but of all conflicts understand what the reality of conflict is like. This collection of intense poetry, written by a skilled listener and a gifted poet, could be on the reading list for students, and an entire population who still has no appreciation or comprehension of the 'Nam War. Ray Whitaker uses their own words to provide well-deserved acknowledgment of their sacrifices. I strongly recommend this book to anyone seeking to understand and honor those who have served
~Hank Bruce
A brilliant book of poetry unlike any I have read. To take the words of combat veterans and skillfully craft them into meaningful prose is incredible. Well done, Ray.
~A Vietnam Veteran
About the Author
Born and raised inside the fortresses of United States Air Force bases around the world, Ray has an appreciative, unique perspective on what serving in the Armed Forces means. He is the son of a career USAF Lt. Colonel, whose career spanned WWII, Korea, and Vietnam.
Recently retired from a career as a clinical in-hospital Respiratory Therapist that lasted 34 years, Ray is turning his attention to the creative arts such as writing, and music, and artistic photography. Ray lives in rural North Carolina with his wife, Sarah.