When I think about the people who have greatly impacted my life, it’s clear that a significant number of them are veterans. Many, like Lamont B. Steptoe, are Vietnam veterans–but not all–Dr. Tony Medina, case in point. For what they have suffered in the act of giving, I am very grateful. And certainly, the wisdom, generosity, knowledge, and inspiration they have given me is a gift beyond compare.
I mention all of that to say that I am, and TSPA is, edified by another soldier–Matthew Borczon. He is also a gift beyond compare to the world–this poet–this writer–for his sterling poetry of witness. Not unlike Yehuda Amichai, he writes about war from the point of view of painful personal experience. He writes to honor the sanctity of life and to remind all who will listen about the ongoing human cost of war.
As we are inches away from the second decade in the twenty-first century, in a world in constant conflict, it strikes me that Borczon’s poetry should be embraced with the reverence of a New Year’s Eve “Watch Night” Service. – t
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and that of multitudes of exceedingly talented poets
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Matthew Borczon is a poet from Erie, Pennsylvania. He has published 11 collections of poetry, the most recent being Body Bag, on Nixes Mate Books. When Borczon is not writing, he is a nurse who serves adults with developmental disabilities. He has been a Navy Hospital Corpsman for the last 18 years and often writes about his time in Afghanistan and his life after living with PTSD.