Welcome to FOB Haiku: War Poems from Inside the Wire

by Randy Brown

Overview

Sherpatude No. 26: "Humor is a combat multiplier ..." Armed with deadpan snark and poker-faced patriotism—and rooted in the coffee-black soil and plain-spoken voice of the American Midwest—journalist-turned-poet Randy Brown (sometimes writing as "Charlie Sherpa") reveals behind-the-scenes stories of U.S. soldier-citizenship. From Boot Camp to Bagram, Afghanistan. And back home again.

Here’s a taste of "FOB Haiku":
Three Cups of Chai-ku
1.
I had hoped, I guess,
for something more like Starbucks,
not yellow water.
2.
We build our nations
one tea party at a time.
They serve, we protect.
3.
No one here can lead
this endless talk of action.
"Que shura, shura."

Product Details

BN ID:	2940152462845
Publisher:	Randy Brown
Publication date:	11/23/2015
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
File size:	379 KB

About the Author

Freelance writer and citizen-soldier by day, and secret (writing as "Charlie Sherpa") blogger by night, Randy Brown was preparing in 2010 to deploy as the sole "knowledge manager" for an Iowa National Guard unit of 3,000 soldiers. ("Historian, librarian, lessons-learned reporter—it was sexier to say my job was 'Brigade Staff Jester,'" he jokes.) After a paperwork snafu dropped him off the list, he retired with 20 years of military service and a previous overseas deployment. He then went to Afghanistan anyway, embedding with his former colleagues as a civilian journalist.

Brown's often-humorous military-themed poetry and non-fiction have appeared widely in literary journals and anthologies. He was the 2015 winner of the inaugural Madigan Award for humorous military-themed writing, presented by Negative Capability Press, Mobile, Ala.

Brown was the 2012 winner of the Military Reporters and Editors' (M.R.E.) independent-blogging category, and a past finalist in the Milblogging.com awards' reporter (2011) and veteran (2012) categories.

He is the current poetry editor of Military Experience & the Arts’ literary journal As You Were.