Buttercup Yellow Straw Boaters: Deconstructions of War

By Harry A. Reed

Wars not only incorporate fear, destruction, and death, but also contain elements of literature: man's conflict with man and nature, his conflict with himself. World War One contrary to some of its historical profile was not the War to End All Wars nor was it, as some claimed, The Great War. Using primarily WW1, and selective offerings about more recent conflicts, the author, a pacifist, muses on the ugly beauty of war.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jul 21, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462015641

Harry A. Reed

I began writing and reading poetry during the 1970s, while working as an historian at Michigan State University. Since my retirement in 2000 i have published poetry and short stories in a variety of journals. Before moving to Boulder, Colorado in 2002, I was a regular reader in The Lansing, Michigan Poetry Series. In Boulder, along with a friend Marty Wong I created Harry and Marty's Movable Poetry Feast. We sponsor readings of local and national poets throughout the year. In Boulder, I share my life with Margaret "Mitch" Stahl, enjoy time with Gillian and Jordan, to whom this volume is dedicated and spend as much time as my old body can tolerate playing basketball.

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Copyright © 2011 by Harry A. Reed.

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ISBN: 978-1-4620-1563-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4620-1564-1 (ebk)

Printed in the United States of America

iUniverse rev. date: 07/12/2011

Contents

Preface

Fever of War I

The Archaeology of War Monuments

Random Battlefield Tableaux

All Seeing Eye

Musing on Trenches and Trains

Battlefield Polka

Groaning Horses

Basic Training: Love and War (For Haile Gerima and Galway Kennel)

Winds of War

Naval War Games

War and Cultural Icons: Beethoven, Berlin and Madonna

Fire in Flanders Field

Wet Sandbags

Buttercup Yellow Straw Boaters

Pennies from Heaven

All the Brave Young Men

Dubya Bullies the UN