|
Publisher’s Weekly said of Warrior
for Peace, “The author of Johnny's Song (which earned him the title of National Poet Laureate of the Vietnam
Veterans of America) attempts to reconcile his Vietnam experiences with his return to America. These poems are a veteran's
raw, heartfelt pleas for lasting peace and for a reevaluation of patriotism, nationalism and a government that wars "as
a solution to economics/or as a perpetuation of social justice." Verses shift from jarring, often graphic accounts of
the atrocities Mason witnessed to strangely peaceful images of his childhood, family and friends. These juxtapositions would
be more effective were they not so explicitly spelled out; Mason explains rather than illustrates, and he frequently lapses
into didactic sermonizing. Although his message is certainly worthy, Mason's tendency to rely on political rhetoric rather
than craft (in "A Living Memorial," for example, he writes, "It is the courage of America/ and the strength
of our world/ that the essence of our patriotism/ is not nationalism,/ it is humanity") makes his work more appropriate
to forms of expression other than poetry. The introduction by film director Oliver Stone adds nothing of value to this volume.”
|
|
 |
|
The School Library Journal said of
Johnny’s Song, “YA Mason, named the National Poet Laureate of the Vietnam Veterans of
America, has collected poems that he has written for and read at memorials and to groups of veterans. In one he points out
the day-to-day acceptance of war with the image of a mother screaming from her front door, "Johnny, for the last time
put down those peace treaties and come in the house this instant you can play Geneva Convention after Dinner." Although
the poems have a direct appeal to the Vietnam veterans and their families and friends, YAs will also be stirred by Mason's
work. He writes of the guilt of the living, the bereavement of the families, and the dislike for those who "didn't go"
but instead relied upon favorable lottery numbers. To understand this war, YAs need to "feel" it. By reading Mason's
poetry, they will.”
|
|
|
|
|
