Review: Fragments: The Long Coming Home from Vietnam by Bruce K. Berger

Bruce K. Berger, a profoundly insightful poet and decorated veteran, has finished a decades-long journey in Fragments: The Long Coming Home from Vietnam, offering a distinctly unique glimpse into an infamous war.

This striking collection of poems is a wide-ranging and unforgettable examination of his life-changing experiences in that bloody war, the indescribable damage that it wrought both at home and abroad, and America’s endless stream of military conflicts, a legacy that rings powerfully in today’s grim geopolitical atmosphere. These poems are gripping, each in their own way, representing a piece of the poet’s personal journey, from raw, unforgettable experiences on battlefields to the difficult decades that follow, the memories that won’t fade, the scars left behind on the land, on others, and on himself.

As a next-of-kin editor, Berger was not only the bearer of devastating news to hundreds of families, but also had the painful honor of being with some of the men when they died, either on the battlefield or a field hospital bed. Some of the most powerful pieces in this collection touch on that rare emotional space he was tasked to hold:

Practiced words stuck in my throat, briefly choked / on the searing discovery of Henry that morning / separated in ambush, scattered in firefight / shot twice, dragged off in sudden retreat / quickly savaged, body beat and macheteed / groin slashed and bathed in bloody pulp / horror locked in his momma’s brown eyes

Every line feels steeped in memory, with images sometimes rushing out in streams of stanzas like a faucet, while at other times unfurling slowly, like the poet is grasping at the threads of a dream. Brutally detailed recollections of war butt up against musing reflections from the minds of others – a mother who has lost her child, an old American soldier who has seen too much death, a young Vietnamese fighter, confused and scared, but determined. These different perspectives feel authentic, rare, and essential to a full understanding of that conflict. Berger brings a scene or a passing figure to life with a few deft lines, evoking strong emotional reactions with his poignant enjambment and unpredictable poetic resolutions.

Like so many other writers whose lives were touched by the Vietnam War, or whose military experiences led them to writing, Berger brings a seemingly endless well of emotion and visceral memory to bear. However, unlike so many of those other writers, this poet is also blessed with an ear for language and the perfectly chosen word, a natural sense of rhythm and tension, and a vivid storytelling style fit for both a painter and an historian.

This is not a light gathering of thoughts by any means, as this collection demands one’s attention and grips the heart. Berger’s dutiful service to his country continues, however, as he reminds readers that terrible mistakes do not stay in the past; the distant ripples and tidal waves of emotion, as well as the lessons learnt, remain potent to this day.

All told, Fragments is a stirring, emotional recollection from a thoughtful poet who has spent decades unpacking his own emotions and experiences, delivering a poignant portrait of war and its aftermath.