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Army poet inspired by service in Iraq

Apr-10-2008 » Filed Under: 3/2 SBCT

Jay Kirschenmann, Argus Leader

War poet Brian Turner wrote secretly during his stint near Mosul while in the Army in Iraq.

Some fellow soldiers with the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, knew he had a master's degree, but no one ever asked him what it was for. His answer would have been poetry, from the University of Oregon.

"It's hard to be hard-nosed if you're writing poetry," Turner has said, so he didn't advertise his talent.

Turner will discuss his book "Here, Bullet," said a first-person account of the Iraq war, during a talk 7 p.m. Wednesday at Augustana College.

He has been published widely in a number of literary journals, and he received a 2007 NEA Literature Fellowship in Poetry.

"For my money, Brian Turner will be read long after this war is over," Patrick Hicks, writer-in-residence at Augustana's English Department.

"He's that good," says Hicks, who is responsible for bringing Turner to Sioux Falls. "His poetry about war will last the ages. And he's certainly a timely voice."

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Turner has been featured a number of times previously on this site.


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