Product Description
by Charlie Sherpa (Contribution by), Aaron Provost (Illustrator), Randy Brown (Author)
A Military Writers Society of America 2016 Gold Medal in Poetry winner An overseas tour de force and a memoir-in-verse An evergreen satire of the "Forever War" in Afghanistan and Iraq
Armed with deadpan snark and poker-faced patriotism-and rooted in the coffee-black soil and plain-spoken voice of the American Midwest-journalist-turned-poet Randy Brown reveals behind-the-scenes stories of U.S. soldier-citizenship. "From Boot Camp to Bagram, Afghanistan." And back home again.
The book includes haiku, sonnets, and less-traditional forms of poetry, intended to create moments of emphathy and conversation among military veterans and civilians.
Here's a taste:
THREE CUPS OF CHAI-KU
1.
I had hoped, I guess,
for something more like Starbucks,
not yellow water.
2.
We build our nations
one tea party at a time.
They serve, we protect.
3.
No one here can lead
this endless talk of action.
"Que shura, shura."
Author Biography
Freelance writer and citizen-soldier by day, and secret (writing as "Charlie Sherpa") blogger by night, Randy Brown was preparing in 2010 to deploy as the sole "knowledge manager" for an Iowa National Guard unit of 3,000 soldiers. ("Historian, librarian, lessons-learned reporter-it was sexier to say my job was 'Brigade Staff Jester, '" he jokes.) After a paperwork snafu dropped him off the list, he retired with 20 years of military service and a previous overseas deployment. He then went to Afghanistan anyway, embedding with his former colleagues as a civilian journalist. Brown's often-humorous military-themed poetry and non-fiction have appeared widely in literary journals and anthologies. He was the 2015 winner of the inaugural Madigan Award for humorous military-themed writing, presented by Negative Capability Press, Mobile, Ala. Brown was the 2012 winner of the Military Reporters and Editors' (M.R.E.) independent-blogging category, and a past finalist in the Milblogging.com awards' reporter (2011) and veteran (2012) categories. He is the current poetry editor of Military Experience & the Arts' literary journal As You Were.
