Infantry Team Leader In Iraq To Poet

Brian Turner an infantry team leader while in Iraq has written a book of poems, "Here, Bullet," about his experiences while in Iraq.

One of the poems in his book is entitled "Eulogy" which memorializes a friend who committed suicide while on duty in Iraq and is the centerpiece of his book.

"Eulogy" from "Here, Bullet."

It happens on a Monday, at 11:20 A.M.,
as tower guards eat sandwiche
sand seagulls drift by on the Tigris River.
Prisoners tilt their heads to the west
though burlap sacks and duct tape blind them.
The sound reverberates down concertina coils
the way piano wire thrums when given slack.
And it happens like this, on a blue day of sun,
when Private Miller pulls the trigger
to take brass and fire into his mouth:
the sound lifts the birds up off the water,
a mongoose pauses under the orange trees,
and nothing can stop it now, no matter what
blur of motion surrounds him, no matter what voices
crackle over the radio in static confusion,
because if only for this moment the earth is stilled,
and Private Miller has found what low hush there is
down in the eucalyptus shade, there by the river.

PFC B. MILLER
(1980 - March 22, 2003)

Source: Jennifer Liss, WireTap