...thoughtful recollections, scary memories, articulate reflections, and
the resolve of a man who has been there.--Publishers Weekly
At age nineteen, Hugh Martin withdrew from college when his National
Guard unit was activated for a deployment to Iraq. After training at
Fort Bragg, Martin spent 2004 in Iraq as the driver of his platoon
sergeant's Humvee. He participated in hundreds of missions including
raids, conducting foot patrols, clearing routes for IEDs, disposing of
unexploded ordnance, and searching thousands of Iraqi vehicles. These
poems recount his time in basic training, his preparation for Iraq, his
experience withdrawing from school, and ultimately, the final journey to
Iraq and back home to Ohio.
Hugh Martin holds an MFA from Arizona State University. He is a
Stegner Fellow at Stanford University.