Bøker av Doug Rawlings

"Poetry is meant to summarize universal feelings. Doug Rawlings' poems capture beautifully the revulsion to war and the spirit of those who work for peace." - Ann Wright, US Army Reserve Colonel (ret) and former US diplomat."Rawlings has written powerfully about the different facets of the veteran's experience. His poems will be cathartic to some and revealing to others. Perhaps they will be most revealing to those who hang around veterans and who have trouble understanding."- Dr. Jon Oplinger, Vietnam Veteran and author of Quang Tri Cadence: Memoir of a Rifle Platoon Leader in the Mountains of Vietnam."Doug's poems communicate strength and clarity, pain, moral injury, gentleness, struggle. And always honesty. These poems are faithful companions to anyone who has been part of the veterans' experience - and in one way or another, that's every one of us."- Chuck Searcy, Vietnam Veteran and Director of Project RENEW.

In the late 1970's and the early 1980's, we (Judy, Jen, Josh, and I) were enamored with the words of A.A. Milne, especially the collection of nursery rhymes entitled "Now We Are Six." On many a night, these were the last words Jen and Josh heard as they fell to sleep and into dreams. I was also struck by the fact that Milne was a veteran of both world wars. Somehow he was able to pull himself away from the first world war to immerse himself into a child's world. And write his whimsical poems. He is the inspiration for these poems you'll find in this collection.When Judy and I moved up to central Maine, we were looking for educational alternatives for Jen and Josh. We were very fortunate to find Carol Scribner's Village School. Carol was superintendent, principal, bus driver, and teacher for a school where the arts were as important as math and science. There were maybe a dozen students enrolled at one time pursuing Carol's elementary school and middle school curricula. Everyone, including the parents, flourished under Carol's watchful eye. When Jen and Josh moved into the public schools, I wrote this poem for Carol:TO CAROL: MY CHILDREN'S TEACHERAND THE MOONCOULD BE A WISE FISHERWOMANHAULING HER JEWELED NETTHROUGH OUR SEASAND YOU TOOCOULD BE OF THE MOONHAVING PULLED YOUR TENDER WEBTHROUGH MY SON AND DAUGHTERTHESE PAST FIVE YEARSAND AS THE SEAFOLLOWING THE MOONFORMS THE SHORESO HAVE YOU COMETHROUGH THEMTO SHAPE MENow decades later we are moving in and out of the worlds of our granddaughters, Xochitl and Iona. Their drawings and paintings adorn the pages of this collection, as they, while reading these poems, weave their way through the earlier lives of their mother and uncle. From one generation to the next the wonderful world of poetry builds bridges to carry us all through the years ahead. In that spirit, we have left the last baker's dozen of pages open for you, dear reader, to write in your own poems or to sketch in your own dreams. Enjoy! And then pass them on.......

A Note from the Author"I was first introduced to the idea of political poetry on October 18, 1970, about midnight, in an all-night Harvard Square corner bookstore. A few months before that encounter I had returned from the war in Viet Nam. To say that I was confused and angry is an understatement. I was also somewhat lost. Then on that fateful night I found this wonderful collection of poems by Denise Levertov that captured her journey to North Viet Nam as a peace activist. This was the first serious "discussion" I had read from and about "my" war. And true to what Robert Bly considers effective political poetry, Levertov used the personal to open up the universal. I was captured, and unlike my response to military "service," I did not want to escape. Instead, I sought out more of her work and other poets and, eventually, began to write my own poems...."

"Doug Rawlings' poems about the Vietnam War, full of anger, shame, suffering and solace, are hard to bear--as they should be. His poems about family life, children, the passing of friends since the war are honest, vulnerable, playful and loving. Together they allow him, and us, full humanity, an expansion of humanity that is particularly poignant in light of its denial to those on both sides who did not survive the war." - Rob Shetterly "I have met Doug Rawlings only once, and then only in passing at a Veterans for Peace convention in his home state of Maine in 2010, but I have been reading his poetry for nearly 40 years. Spending time with this compilation of his life's work, I feel as if I'm in the company of an old and dear and trusted friend. The range of his emotions, the diversity of his interests, the keenness of his sensibilities, his capacity to be fully and consciously human leave no doubt that his has been and continues to be a life examined and well worth living." - W. D. Ehrhart