Liam Corley

Liam Corley is a Naval Reserve officer who's done tours in Iraq, Afghanistan and other world trouble spots. He's also a humanities prof at Cal State Polytech, which comes through in many poems here, with numerous nods to Homer, Melville and especially to James Fenimore Cooper and his Leatherstocking cast of Natty Bumppo, Chinkachgook and Uncas, which often gives his poems a classical twist. He manages to insert these literary references seamlessly, along with other pieces about citizen show more soldiers pulled from their humdrum lives and thrust into hostile situations in foreign countries. Some survive and some do not, succumbing to suicide, roadside bombs or enemy fire. Corley's dark sense of humor has remained intact, as he tells us -

"... Rumsfeld could have been our secretary of poetic state ... All our MFAs / went to Iraq, and the rotator for Kandahar leaves tonight. Go to war / with the words you have. Magazines will come after." ("Improvised Explosive Device")

The book's title, UNWOUND, tends to reinforce what other veteran writers have implied in their various works - that once one has been "wounded," whether physically, psychologically or emotionally, the possibility of being "un-wounded" is nil. And "moral injuries" can never be undone. Kudos to Corley for this deeply thought-provoking and literary collection. Very highly recommended.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER show less