Eric Chandler

Eric Chandler’s collection of poems overcomes a dangerous tendency to pin a single identity on the veteran who has lived the stories of Afghanistan, Iraq and other places, showing he is not only defined by this aspect but also of his life in Minnesota and with the experience of the natural world and of the voices of family. The title’s reference and the book's organization into Earth, Sky, Love and War seems to recall Empedocles’ Four Elements and in doing so makes the case that the speaker’s world cannot be defined by separating one from the others.

‘Moving Stuff Around’ – The poem explores the word that seems to symbolize our growth from the beginnings of lives to our middle-aged years. Though Chandler takes this a couple of steps further illustrating the movements that take place on a cellular level, the movements that are basic to living and those that are out of our control. The speaker’s coming to grips with that reality leads to the powerful last line: ‘Some people will move water out of their eyes.’ An original way to depict the emotional weight of the poem.


‘View Master’ – is a smart look at the memory of a pilot sifting through images and memories from above, through the perspective of a child’s toy. The lever advancing the picture and the controls of the aircraft become interchangeable to the point it’s hard to tell which is being pressed, as if the scene is transporting the speaker back into the experiences, experiences which weave the awe-inspiring northern lights with the mortar attack over the Tigris, illustrating the variety of experience contained in one set of memories.



‘I Can Already Hear It’ – provides a great image of the transitory nature of the elements we assume are forever a part of us. The structure effectively connects the ‘big topic’ of patriotism and an all-too-limited feeling of national pride and love for one’s neighbor that ended without notice, like a ‘support the troops’ magnetic having lost its attraction and fallen ‘off cars and into the ditch.’ From there, Chandler zeroes in on the experience of a house filled with the sounds of kids, of music drifting from the other room, which he realizes is only short lived. The parallel structure connects the large and the small. And it is in zeroing in on the personal where Chandler taps into an idea that is more universal, of the temporary nature of what we have. Perhaps it takes the eyes of a veteran who has experience loss, to see it happening again.



‘Did Joseph Heller Know King David’ - In his final section ‘War’ Chandler connects not only the personal and the political, but the experiences that have been part of every conflict, mainly the contradictions in asking our warriors to kill our enemies and then condemning them for the blood on their hands. The difficult task of turning off a mindset that makes us victorious in one setting and monstrous in another has followed humankind through the stories of Odysseus and Othello, from King David to modern times, only becoming clear through the insanity of a Captain Yossarian. Chandler masterfully shows this in writing through the lens of King David that, after multiple readings, we realize is telling us about our own culture.

Chandler’s book does what good poetry should and leaves space for the reader to see experience for ourselves, through his well-crafted imagery.
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In HUGGING THIS ROCK, pilot-poet Eric Chandler presents us with fifty-plus heartfelt, finely crafted pieces of his life, all eminently accessible, even if you've never flown a plane or went to war. With passing nods to literature (Saint Exupery, Heller), television (Baa Baa, Black Sheep and The Waltons), and plentiful, loving references to family, Chandler is also ultra-aware of his own mortality and the role that chance and fortune have played in his life. His poems brought to mind another collection I read a few years back - Walter McDonald's COUNTING SURVIVORS. McDonald was a pilot in Vietnam, and like Chandler, mixed his poems and images from war and peace time.

There are so many good poems here, it's impossible to pick favorites, but I did latch on to one, "Air Born," maybe because it mentioned Kincheloe, a now defunct Air Force Base I once visited as a child, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. And I especially loved "Quid Pro Quo," in which he tells of a bargain made with God, and the beautiful daughter that resulted, and how he taught her the "two things that matter."

These are fine poems. They will make you think, remember, smile, and maybe even choke you up a bit. I'm so glad I read them. Very highly recommended.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, SOLDIER BOY: AT PLAY IN THE ASA… (more)