Unaccustomed Mercy

The poetry of the Vietnam War is a phenomenon unparalleled in American literature--the only conflict to come close to producing anything like it is the American Civil War. Vietnam poets are the most powerful witnesses to the war itself and the most significant voices to impart the impact of the experience upon those who fought there. With commanding authority, every poet in this anthology represents the terrible beauty that Vietnam engendered in sensitive hearts, the curious grace with which the human spirit can endow even the ugliest of realities. If one wants to know the personal essence of the Vietnam War, how it felt and smelled and tasted, what it did to those who fought it and why it will not go away, one is likely to find more truth in these poems than in any history ever written. There is much to be learned from poetry, and these poets are able teachers.