Roy was a sniper in Vietnam. The vibrancy and immediacy of his work will stun you. This is neither a political rant nor a therapeutic exercise. These poems do not say, “War is terrible” or “War is glorious,” they simply say, “This is war.” Roy’s storytelling is artful, unflinching — definitely not for children — but wending through these poems is a deep respect for life, a quiet and enigmatic hope.