Where are the war poets? - Defence Academy of the United Kingdom

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The dust the debris scatter all over the place The country we fight in is a fucking disgrace As we move to the HLS We come under fire from over the crest This time I have 7.62 1800 rounds so more than a few A bullet flies past and misses by an inch I didn’t even have time to flinch My lead wall goes into the house Nothing could escape, not even a mouse The Browning goes off right next to my ear We round a corner and we are in the clear. 22. Lonely Soldier (poem written on a Helmand Forward Operating Base wall) Balaclava home from home With hesco walls and thunder domes A desert rose for a piss A curried goat that did the trick! Full of meat, the men are now, As we hear another round. Is it burst or single shot As we come under full contact. Ricochet overhead, bury into hesco sack. What’s that distant sound I hear, My family, friends I love so dear. No time for that, no time for tears I must fight and beat my fears. Side by side we’re standing tall For love and peace, not for war Heart so heavy, full of pain I want to see my family again 23. 9 liner (SM Steele) (for Corporal Darren Fitzpatrick, injured Panjwaii, Afghanistan, died Alberta Canada, 2010) T Triple C. tourniquet. 9-line. Role 3. jet to Germany. fight soldier fight. breathe. hang on. to different tubes and wires. not twisted trips in dust. cobra traps. lash. the smash the bloody grab. the blast. the blast. hideous misstep. fuck. IED. fucking fucking IED. your limbs bleed. out almost gone. O2, Sats, ICU chatter. radio net. 9 liner 9 liner wheeze life support. Black Hawk. Chinook. whook whook whook whook whook, fast air over KAF. out of there. you must. hang on. breathe son breathe. we wait we wait. will live to live. will you to live. will you live. hang on hang on. over the red desert. you’re almost. gone. breathe son. hang on. 41
24. More Light, More Light (Anthony Hecht) (for Heinrich Blücher and Hannah Arendt) Composed in the Tower before his execution These moving verses, and being brought at that time Painfully to the stake, submitted, declaring thus: ‘I implore my God to witness that I have made no crime’ Nor was he forsaken of courage, but the death was horrible, The sack of gunpowder failing to ignite. His legs were blistered sticks on which the black sap Bubbled and burst as he howled for the Kindly Light. And that was but one, and by no means one of the worst; Permitted at least his pitiful dignity; And such as were by made prayers in the name of Christ, That shall judge all men, for his soul’s tranquillity. We move now to outside a German wood, Three men are there commanded to dig a hole In which the two Jews are ordered to lie down And be buried alive by the third, who is a Pole. Not light from the shrine at Weimar beyond the hill Nor light from heaven appeared. But he did refuse. A Lüger settled back deeply in its glove. He was ordered to change places with the Jews. Much casual death had drained away their souls. The thick dirt mounted toward the quivering chin. When only the head was exposed the order came To dig him out again and to get back in. No light, no light in the blue Polish eye. When he finished a riding boot packed down the earth. The Lüger hovered lightly in its glove. He was shot in the belly and in three hours bled to death. No prayers or incense rose up in those hours Which grew to be years, and every day came mute Ghosts from the ovens, sifting through crisp air, And settled upon his eyes in a black soot. 42
Page 1 and 2: ROYAL COLLEGE OF DEFENCE STUDIES SE
Page 3 and 4: ROYAL COLLEGE OF DEFENCE STUDIES
Page 5 and 6: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Today’s wars in
Page 7 and 8: WHERE ARE THE WAR POETS: THE ROLE A
Page 9 and 10: definition from Clausewitz. His uni
Page 11 and 12: feelings’ - one person, the poet,
Page 13 and 14: or those that fight in them (‘pro
Page 15 and 16: ‘Can I Get A Witness’ 54 : Toda
Page 17 and 18: poets, who are not part of any mili
Page 19 and 20: defined as ‘the writing and readi
Page 21 and 22: But Does Anybody Still Read Poetry
Page 23 and 24: Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Ca
Page 25 and 26: Hugh Haughton sets out the argument
Page 27 and 28: BIBLIOGRAPHY Books Armitage, Simon,
Page 29 and 30: The home site of Suzanne Steele: ww
Page 31 and 32: When the dust of peace has settled
Page 33 and 34: lackthorns of your hair. All my wor
Page 35 and 36: and made the face you see today an
Page 37 and 38: the bodies of the enemy; they were
Page 39 and 40: and see what is there of knives and
Page 41 and 42: Before we gave them rations to take
Page 43: You’ll never see them again as fl

Where are the war poets? - Defence Academy of the United Kingdom

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