Here, Bullet: poetry from a US infantryman in Iraq

Excerpt from "Here, Bullet," a book of poetry written by Sgt. Brian Turner, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, while he was serving in Iraq:

Here, Bullet
If a body is what you want,
then here is bone and gristle and flesh.
Here is the clavicle-snapped wish,
the aorta's opened valves, the leap
thought makes at the synaptic gap.
Here is the adrenaline rush you crave,
that inexorable flight, that insane puncture
into heat and blood. And I dare you to finish
what you've started. Because here, Bullet,
here is where I complete the word you bring
hissing through the air, here is where I moan
the barrel's cold esophagus, triggering
my tongue's explosives for the rifling I have
inside of me, each twist of the round
spun deeper, because here, Bullet,
here is where the world ends, every time.

Amazon Link to book, and here is an article about the author from today's San Francisco Chronicle. (via Wayne's list)

[#1 posted by Anonymous, April 30, 2009 3:14 PM]

This poem has the most incredibly powerful language and is full of personifications creating extremely violent imagery. I felt brought into the theatre of war and hated every minute of it although I loved the poem.