One of my favorites since I was introduced to him in High School. Beautiful, brutal and beyond compassionate. The enlightenment one is compelled to share after surviving horror forced upon them. The bravery he exercised in writing against the jingoistic, societal grain of 'victory' at the time is rarely addressed - and needed now more than ever.
Thank you for reminding me of Randell Jarrell whose work, The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner scalded my soul forever when I was in college. A brilliant writer.
The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner
By Randall Jarrell
From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.
Wow.
I love poetry.
https://vanessamchattman.substack.com/p/the-poetry-series-book-by-vanessa-ad9?r=3vot
Thank you for introducing me to Randall Jarrell. I’m off to get his book.
One of my favorites since I was introduced to him in High School. Beautiful, brutal and beyond compassionate. The enlightenment one is compelled to share after surviving horror forced upon them. The bravery he exercised in writing against the jingoistic, societal grain of 'victory' at the time is rarely addressed - and needed now more than ever.
Thank you for reminding me of Randell Jarrell whose work, The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner scalded my soul forever when I was in college. A brilliant writer.
Thank you for this... by chance we come upon writings such as this. Like being struck by lightning in the thunderstorm of the web..
Lots of expensive verbiage gets spent on lesser lights, but this guy doesn’t go away.
Powerful. Thank you. I'd like to be struck by that kind of lightning.
I’ve never read his work before. And now? I’ll seek it out.
Beautiful poems
I love the simplicity in these poems.
Dignity