Visions of War, Dreams of Peace

I first read this book in the mid-1990's. Recently I picked it up again. The insanity of war is just that, regardless of whether it happened when I was in my twenties or now in my sixties. As a non-participant in the immediacy of war, I can still feel my heart wrench as I read these poems. I cannot even begin to imagine the agony of working day to day in a combat hospital. If I had a son at war now, I would hope that women such as these would be there for him. I admire Van DeVanter and Furey's courage in presenting such a wide range of poetic expressions. Some are, admittedly, the work of rank amateurs, but many carry the power of the true poetic voice. They included a few poems by Vietnamese women, with no indication of which "side" they were on. Loss of a loved one in war is, after all, a tragedy. Period. VISIONS OF WAR, DREAMS OF PEACE is a monument, as lasting as the Wall itself. If someone you know is in Iraq, or has returned from Irag, or will never return from Iraq, here is an outcry against war, an eternal wish for peace. I wish you well.

I have returned from Iraq this year and found this book an incredible read. The stories, poems and letters written by nursses in the Vietnam War are the same stories that can be retold by the nurses from this Iraq War. We all share that same bond. I have given this book to many friends who have served in Iraq or who have recently returned. This is a book written from the hearts of those that have served our wounded heroes!

The poetry of Visions of War, Dreams of Peace is moving, in part because most of the poems have been written by women who were nurses on active duty during the U.S. war in Vietnam. From their position, they could speak of what they saw as the deaths continued to mount all around. Many of the poems are awkward and sentimental, many rely on limp rhymes, many wear their hearts on their sleeves. Most ache with wounds that will never heal. The authors' courageous struggle to face the eternal suffering of war, to try to find words to express how others' suffering has deeply moved them, gives some of these works a rough edge that cuts the reader to the soul.

Ten of the poems in this book were wrenched from my innermost feelings... All of the poems are a true experience of the women who were and are touched by entering the man's world of war. I didn't carry weapons, didn't walk the bush, but I saw the carnage and felt the then seeming helplessness of the wounded bought in by dust-off. Intolerant of being helpless, I lived my tour in numbness and left Vietnam as only a shell. Who wouldn't in those conditions? To see and feel the real experience of war - read and know what it's like to walk in this woman's combat boots. N. Griffiths