“Beauty In The Dirt”
Teflon Don finds some:
Last night was beautiful.
Iraqi cities look something like others that I’ve seen, and the fertile stretches along the river are less impressive than green farmland back home. The desert, though- the desert is different. The sky was clear of dust and haze- we were far past the lights of the city, and the stars shone soft and brilliant. The Milky Way stretched out overhead like a band of cotton. I heard bats launch from their hiding places in the abandoned buildings, and shrill aloft on their hunt for food. Somewhere overhead and out of sight, an owl hooted and stooped for his own dinner.
There’s a stark, harsh beauty in the desert.
Rest here. Don’s time is winding down. He’ll be out of there before too long. In his time, he has been the best combat writer in Iraq. I’m not talking about reporters like Yon, straight ahead milbloggers like his own CO Badger Six. I’m talking about a literary grunt’s voice. More on what Don wrote, some of his best, what he, Badger Six and their guys did:
You’ll also want to check in on America’s other great combat writer, home from Iraq now. Visit Michael at A Day in Iraq and scroll for “A Brief Uncertainty,” “The Horror,” “A Piece of Candy” and others.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 4:24 pm on Saturday, August 18, 2007
3 Responses to ““Beauty In The Dirt””
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August 18th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
I read that post this morning, and commented there. Very well said and evocative.
Have a great weekend!
http://burkeanreflections.blogspot.com
August 19th, 2007 at 6:51 am
This is some powerful stuff. If he were an anti-war poet he’d be hailed as the new Wilfred Owen, every line of his would be quoted with relish by the media. Just like that phony diary The New Republic published.
Visit my blog at http://blogger-heads.blogspot.com/ where I debate a leftie.
Cheers
August 20th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
Beauchamp only wishes (and pretends) he could be the kind of writer this young man is. But this is a man who doesn’t put on the character evidenced in his prose like an overcoat.