Valley son, veteran succeeds as Iraq war poet

Valley son, veteran succeeds as Iraq war poet
By Michael Doyle / Bee Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- Combat was a good career move for award-winning war poet Brian Turner, though it came at a price.

The San Joaquin Valley native and Fresno State graduate now has a deep, dark pool of memories to draw from. He dips down, if he dares, and there they are.

"I [have been] learning how to write about the ghosts that live among us, whether we recognize them or not," Turner said.

Now, the former Army sergeant is out with his second volume of poems influenced largely by his year in Iraq with the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. The collection called "Phantom Noise" follows up on "Here, Bullet," which changed Turner's life irrevocably.

Called the first collection of poems by an Iraq War veteran, "Here, Bullet" helped Turner win the 2009-2010 Amy Lowell Traveling Poetry Fellowship.

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