Quick: Though I Haven't Been to Baghdad by Margaret Rozga, 2012, 9780984462971.
Committee book. Poetry. Better than most.
Mom teaches English at UW two-year campus. Mom has son in Army. Son gets deployed to Iraq. Mom writes poems. Son gets deployed to Afghanistan. Mom writes more poems. Son returns. Mom writes more poems.
I really liked some of these poems. Others were bleah or boring. I cannot list titles of the ones I liked because I already passed along the book.
Rozga writes about the tension of being at home with a kid in combat. She worries. She wonders if he will come back with both legs. Superstition stops her from sending him a new laptop to watch movies on, "If I don't send it he will live." Rozga travels to an Army funeral.
A couple poems detour into normal life when Rozga's son asks her grammar questions when he becomes responsible for report writing. It's an odd break from her life normalcy of tension and worry.
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2 comments:
Thank you. It's grand to know that someone read my book.
What I love about Margaret Rozga's poetry is the way she can string together everyday words to evoke stirring images and strong empathy for her emotions.
-- Sue
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