Brian Turner vs. Yusef Komenyaka

Yusef Komunyakaa wrote his poems based on his experiences in the Vietnam War and Brian Turner wrote his poems based on his experiences in the Iraq war. Both of their writings have similar and different styles and themes. One thing that their poems do share in common is the message of the rough realities of war and how that has affected their life and in turn impacted their writing. I personally liked Komunyakaa’s poem “Facing It” because it was really interesting how he could see the memories of the war in the black granite of the Vietnam memorial. The personal emotions that both Komunyakaa and Turner exemplify in their writing gives the reader a real feeling of the things they felt in the war. Like in Turner’s poem “The Hurt Locker” you can just feel the physical toll of the war. And I feel like that Turner’s poem were really descriptive to give a real sense of what it was like to trapped in a war, for example his poem “2000 lbs.” shows the horrors of a suicide bombing. There is a never-ending list of negative things that happen because of war: people are killed or injured, innocent lives are at stake, homes are lost, etc. . . War has definitely the same meaning throughout the years, but there are things that have changed. Going from the Vietnam War to the Iraq war the military has changed a lot and the weaponry has advanced. More rules and guidelines have been made to carry out a more “moral” war. One thing that does stay the same from all the wars is the pain and suffering caused from the war which causes physical, mental, and psychological affects on the soldiers.