This is Episode 72 of Poems for the Speed of Life.

Today's poem is "Great Plain" by Kevin Powers.

Kevin Powers is an American fiction writer and poet. He is also an Iraq War veteran and he rose to prominence in 2012 when his debut novel, The Yellow Birds, which drew on his experiences of that conflict.

That book drew comparisons with a classic of war writing, The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, about the Vietnam War and this poem “Great Plains” also reminded me of O’Brien.

There’s a line in O’Brien’s work that goes, “Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to” and that haunting line came back to me as I read and experienced this poem, a powerful piece about man’s inhumanity to man, yes, but also about the things we’re sometimes forced to do, or choose to do, or end up doing by the terrible joined forces of momentum and circumstance.

You can read the poem here⁠.

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Music Credit:

Once Upon a Time by Alex-Productions | ⁠⁠⁠https://onsound.eu/⁠⁠⁠  | Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com