Veterans are often heard to say "You wouldn't understand: you haven't been there!" What are these images and memories that can be so misunderstood? Through poems that explore a veteran's soul, you are shown what these veterans wish family and friends could understand. Wars have colors, smells and images which can be both quickly and involuntarily summoned. To remember brings personal pain but to forget betrays wounded and dead fellow soldiers. These small groups of tormented people shape our world even though most people never know them. Bill Black grew up in communities of veterans from the theaters of war in World Wars I and II and Korea. He and his friends became the veterans of the wars in Vietnam and its following wars. He has watched the gradual recognition of some war caused diseases and disabilities and seen the more advanced models of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder replace "shell shock" and "combat fatigue." He has also seen the declining percentage of the population made of veterans and their families. His writings tell these stories. In ways that other written word methods cannot do, these poems can take the reader into the soldier's mind in a sometimes unpleasant trip. Read with care!
About the Author: Bill Black is a North Carolinian who left the state when he entered the Army. While a youngster in North Carolina, he began performing magic at almost any place he could find an audience. His earliest poetry also comes from this era. He has written and edited scripts, newsletters, educational programs and technical articles for both limited circulation use and general audiences. He has lectured on aspects of public presentations for performers and fundraisers. Bill has performed as a magician, poet / storyteller and MC for shows throughout this country and over a dozen around the world. During a portion of his poetry writing, he, like many other Vietnam veterans, found that it helped define some of the feelings bottled up by and after the war. Bill began writing a more Western style of poetry when he realized in the mid 1990's that it seemed a more natural "voice" for his type of writing. Bill recorded "Classic Western Poetry" and "The Changing West" on Compact Disc. The Academy of Western Artists, in their Eighth Annual Will Rogers Awards for Outstanding Achievement of Contemporary Cowboy Skills chose "Classic Western Poetry" as one of the selections in the Top Ten voting for the Poetry Album / CD category for 2002. He followed those with a show and CD called "Cattlemen At The Cantina." His work has been anthologized in Under Sonoran Skies in 2011 and Brushstrokes and Balladeers in 2013. Bill's own website is www.billblackaz.com.