Phantom Noise

Brian Turner's collection of poetry Here, Bullet, absolutely blew me away. It happened to catch my eye on a cart of books to be shelved and I happened to flip to the title poem. The world stopped moving. As soon as I finished the poem, I bought the book. Turner served in the Iraq war, and "Here, Bullet" is the 21st century's first great work of war poetry.

Since then I've checked our database every now and again to see when Brian Turner would come out with another collection. Finally, Phantom Noise came out. Phantom Noise is another brilliant collection, making the case for Brian Turner as one of America's great living poets. Like Here, Bullet, Phantom Noise deals with the war in Iraq, but this time from the home front, exploring how the war constantly forces itself into daily life. Phantom Noise also looks beyond warfare with poems like "Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon," "Lucky Money," and "Homemade Napalm," exploring events and themes of more mundane human existence. Phantom Noise is a brilliant collection and once again I'll be constantly checking the databases for the next Brian Turner collection.