Phantom Noise
2005 Beatrice Hawley Award
2006 Northern California Book Award in Poetry
2006 Maine Literary Award in Poetry
2006 Sheila Margaret Motton Award
A New York Times “Editor’s Choice” Selection
2006 PEN Center USA Literary Award in Poetry
A 2006 Lannan Literary Fellowship
2007 NEA Literature Fellowship in Poetry
2007 Poet’s Prize
2008 Charity Randall Citation
Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarship
USA Hillcrest Fellowship in Literature
Following the success of bestselling Here, Bullet, Turner
deftly illuminates existence as both easily extinguishable
and ultimately enduring. These prophetic, osmotic poems
wage a daily battle for normalcy, seeking structure in the
quotidian while struggling to reconcile the unforgettable.
Publication Date: April 2010
Distribution: National
Barcode: Yes
ISBN #978-1-882295-80-7
Price: $16.95
Pages: 112
Available From:
Consortium Book Sales & Distribution,
Small Press Distribution
“[Brian Turner’s] work is straightforward and direct. It highlights the violence
and death of the war in a manner little seen elsewhere.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Here, Bullet is a book of poems about the war in Iraq, written by a
veteran whose eye for the telling detail is as strategic as it is poetic.”
—Globe and Mail
“The day of the first moonwalk, my father’s college literature professor
told his class, ‘Someday they’ll send a poet, and we’ll find out what it’s
really like.’ Turner has sent back a dispatch from a place arguably more
incomprehensible than the moon—the war in Iraq—and deserves our
thanks…”
—The New York Times Book Review
Brian Turner
praise for Phantom Noise
“Turner fascinated and unsettled many with his first collection, Here,
Bullet,...this volume continues his mission...in sharp, straightforward,
yet lyrical language, Turner exposes the many costs of war.”
—Library Journal
“Staring hard through a calibrated sight, this former infantry team
leader…reveals the particular music of death and violence and military
service, and these poems unfold with his effort to find meaning, to be
decent, and to be alert to the suffering all around.”
—ForeWord Reviews
“Turner’s debut, Here, Bullet (2005) was likely the most discussed
debut of the decade… It’s a hard act to follow, but Turner manages
well…”
—Publishers Weekly
“Phantom Noise is an enlightening and intriguing contribution to
contemporary poetry that reaffirms the talent readers first observed in
Brian Turner’s debut book. This rich and resonant new volume proves
Brian Turner now has firmly earned a position as one of the nation’s
more valuable poets.”
—Valparaiso Poetry Review
previous praise for Brian Turner
“As a war poet, [Brian Turner] sidesteps the classic distinction between romance
and irony, opting instead for the surreal.”
—The New Yorker
“Turner attempts to capture the extreme experience of war by depicting
the feelings it generates: the sense of loss, hatred, humiliation, love,
uncertainty, and dreamy longing for a normal life...”
—Library Journal
238 Main St., Farmington, ME 04938 • (207) 778-7071 • www.alicejamesbooks.org
An Affiliate of the University of Maine at Farmington
poems from Phantom Noise:
At the VA hospital in Long Beach, California,
Dr. Sushruta scores open a thin layer of skin
to reveal an object traveling up through muscle.
It is a kind of weeping the body does, expelling
foreign material, sometimes years after injury.
Dr. Sushruta lifts slivers of shrapnel, bits
of coarse gravel, road debris, diamond-shaped
points of glass—the minutiae of the story
reconstructing a cold afternoon in Baghdad,
November of 2005. The body offers aged cloth
from a burka dyed in blood, even shards of bone.
And if he were to listen intently, he might hear
the roughened larynx of this woman calling up
through the long corridors of flesh, saying
Allah al Akbar, before releasing
her body’s weapon, her dark and lasting gift
for this jundee Ameriki, who carries fragments
of the war inscribed in scar tissue,
a deep, intractable pain, the dull grief of it
the body must learn to absorb.
Phantom Noise
There is this ringing hum this
bullet-borne language ringing
shell-fall and static this late-night
ringing of threadwork and carpet ringing
hiss and steam this wingbeat
of rotors and tanks these broken
bodies ringing in steel humming these
voices of dust these years ringing
rifles in Babylon rifles in Sumer
ringing these children their gravestones
and candy their limbs gone missing their
static-borne television their ringing
this eardrum this rifled symphonic this
ringing of midnight in oil and gunpowder this
brake-pad gone useless this muzzle-flash singing this
threading of bullets in muscle and bone this ringing
hum this ringing hum this
ringing
Kim Buchheit
Jundee Ameriki
Brian Turner earned an MFA from the University of
Oregon before serving for seven years in the US Army.
He was an infantry team leader for a year in Iraq with
the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry
Division. Prior to that, he was deployed to BosniaHerzegovina in 1999-2000 with the 10th Mountain
Division. His poetry has been published in Poetry
Daily, The Georgia Review, and other journals. He
received a USA Hillcrest Fellowship in Literature, an
NEA Literature Fellowship in Poetry, the Amy Lowell
Poetry Travelling Scholarship, the Poets’ Prize, and a
Fellowship from the Lannan Foundation. His work
has appeared on National Public Radio, the BBC,
Newshour with Jim Lehrer, and Weekend America,
among others. He teaches at Sierra Nevada College.
238 M ain St., Farmington, ME 04938
(207) 778-7071
www.aliceja mesbook s.or g
Alice James Books titles are distributed to the
trade by Consortium Book Sales & Distribution
and Small Press Distribution. Individuals may
order from the press directly. AJB was named
for Alice James, sister of novelist Henry and
philosopher William, whose fine journal and gift
for writing went unrecognized during her lifetime. Alice James
Books is affiliated with the University of Maine at Farmington.
238 Main St., Farmington, ME 04938 • (207) 778-7071 • www.alicejamesbooks.org
An Affiliate of the University of Maine at Farmington
Publicity & events:
Features:
The New York Times, “In a Word; Cut & Run” 12/25/05
The New York Times Book Review, “Editor’s Choice” 12/4/05
The New Yorker, “The Talk of the Town” 11/14/05
The Fresno Bee (Bee Washington Bureau, McClatchy Newspapers), “Valley vet’s poetry brings him fame, $2,000 prize” 11/11/05
reprinted in Washington Times Record News, KNXV-TV/www.abc15.com (Phoenix, AZ), Stars and Stripes, and elsewhere
The Lewiston (Maine) Sun-Journal, “Award-winning war poet to visit on reading tour” 11/29/05
The Bowdoin Orient (Brunswick, Maine), “Former Iraq soldier shares war experience with powerful poetry” 12/2/05
The Lewiston (Maine) Sun-Journal, “A Soldier’s Stories” 12/5/05
The News Tribune (Tacoma, WA), “Ex-Fort Lewis soldier captures Iraq’s horror stanza by stanza” 1/13/06
www.AlterNet.org, “It Should Break Your Heart to Kill” 2/13/06
The Colorado Springs Independent, Fine Print “Iraq War Vet and Poet Brings the War Home” 3/23/06
The Providence Journal, “From a War Comes Poetry to Think About” 4/9/06
Associated Press, “A Valley Where Poems Grow Like Weeds” 5/15/06
The Wave Magazine, “Mightier Than the Sword” 5/18/06
www.redding.com (Cincinnati, OH) “Former Soldier Comes to the North Stat to Read Poetry of War” 8/24/2006
Daily Record (Parsippany, NJ) “A Poet Goes to War” 9/17/06
www.metroactive.com (San Francisco, CA) “Poetry Goes to War” 9/13 -19/2006
Writer’s Digest “Poetry as Body Armor” 12/06
The Fresno Bee (Bee Washington Bureau, McClatchy Newspapers), “Fresno Poet Gets Fellowship” 12/2/06
The Mercury News (San Jose, CA)
Essay series “Home Fires” for New York Times Online 9/07-10/07
Weekend America “Cole’s Guitar” 12/22/2007 (http://weekendamerica.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/12/21/poet/)
The New York Times “A Well-Written War, Told in the First Person” 2/8/210
The Los Angeles Times, “A Warrior Poet” 4/21/2010
The Fresno Bee (Bee Washington Bureau, McClatchy Newspapers) “Valley Son, Veteran Succeeds as Iraq War Poet” 5/1/2010
Reviews:
The New York Times Book Review, The Globe and Mail (Toronto), Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, The Daily Mail (London),
Rain Taxi, Minneapolis/St. Paul City Pages, Military Review, Sacramento News & Review, Franklin (Maine) Journal, Wolf Moon Press
Journal, www.Bookslut.com, Café Review, In Posse Review, Pemmican Press, Watermark Books, The Veteran, Cimarron Review, San Francisco
Humanities Review, Baltimore Review, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Sun Times, The Georgia Review, Poetry Daily, Valparaiso Poetry
Review, ForeWord Reviews, and others.
Readings:
Bowdoin College, Bates College, University of Maine at Farmington, Blue Wolf (Tacoma, WA), Elliott Bay Book Company (Seattle,
WA), Virginia Military Institute, California State University at Fresno, The Poetry Center at Smith College (Northampton, MA),
Northern California Book Awards (San Francisco, CA), San Francisco Public Library Main Branch, Rhode Island Council for the Arts
(Providence, RI), Stanford University (Stanford, CA), Santa Clara University (Santa Clara, CA), University of San Francisco Emerging
Writers’ Festival, California Poets Festival (San Jose, CA), Oklahoma Arts Institute (Oklahoma City, OK), Maine Writers & Publishers
Alliance, University of Southern Maine (Portland, ME), Stonecoast Summer Writer’s Conference (Freeport, ME), Tuolumne Meadows
Poetry Festival, (Yosemite National Park), Sonoma County Book Festival (Santa Rosa, CA), Dodge Poetry Festival, Brattleboro Literary
Festival (Brattleboro, VT), University of Oregon (Eugene, OR), Uiversity of Arizona (Tuscon, AZ), 17th annual Chicago Humanities
Festival (Albion, IL), University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI), WestPoint Academy (West Point, NY), Cork Festival (Cork, Ireland),
North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC), US Naval Academy (Annapolis, MD), US Coast Guard Academy (New London, CT),
The Coming Home Project (Berkeley, CA), Benefit concert, Direct Relief International (Austin, TX), Camden County Cultural and
Heritage Commission (Haddon Township, NJ), Global Understanding Project (Monmouth, NJ), Alice James Books Benefit (Washington, DC), Cuirt Festival (Galway Ireland), Voices in Wartime (Seattle, WA), Western Washington University (Bellingham, WA), Touch
of Madness Victorian Quaffery (Cape Town, South Africa), Fullerton College (CA), University of Wisconsin (La Crosse, WI), Wisconsin
Book Fair (Eau Claire), Norwich Academy (VT), Kingdom Books (St. Johnsbury, VT), PCC Chicago (with Bruce Weigl), Westchester
Community College (Westchester, NY), Fredricksburg Community College (VA), Richard Hugo House “We Could Be Heroes” (Seattle,
WA), Fresno Poets Association (CA), University of California Bakersfield, Valencia Community College (FL), AWP 2008 (New York,
NY), A Tribute to Philip Levine (Fresno, CA), Coastal Carolina University (Conway, SC), St. Anza Festival (St. Andrews, Scotland),
Poetry & Conflict, Byre Studio Center (St. Andrews, Scotland), Changing Scotland Festival (Ullapool, Scotland), Vital Synz (Glasgow,
Scotland), New Writing North (Newcastle, England), Royal Festival Hall (London, England), Keystone College (La Plume, PA), Poetry
Now (Dublin, Ireland), International Poetry Forum (Pittsburgh, PA), Montalvo Arts Center (Saratoga, CA), Cuirt International Festival
of Literature (Ireland), Casa Romantica (San Clemente, CA), Fall for the Book Festival (Fairfax, VA), Plymouth Congregational Church
(Minneapolis, MN), University of South Florida (St. Petersburg, FL) University of Tampa (Tampa, FL), Eckerd College (St. Petersburg,
FL), Miami-Dade College (Miami, FL), Miami-Dade College (Miami, FL), Valencia City College (Orlando, FL), Flagler College (St.
Augustine, FL), Florida State University (Tallahassee, FL), University of Nevada (Reno, NV), Sierra Nevada College (Incline Village,
238 Main St., Farmington, ME 04938 • (207) 778-7071 • www.alicejamesbooks.org
An Affiliate of the University of Maine at Farmington
Publicity & events (continued)
Course Adoptions for Here, Bullet
United States Military Academy at West Point, United States Air Force Academy, California State University at Chico, Colorado State
University, Northern Illinois University, University of San Francisco, University of Southern Maine, State University of New York at
Fredonia, Western Washington University, University of Wisconsin at Whitewater, The Lesley Seminars at Lesley University, Union
County Magnet High School (Scotch Plains, NJ), US Naval Academy, University of Arizona, University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI),
Babson College (Babson Park, MA), and many others.
Interviews:
WNYC Public Radio, “The Brian Lehrer Show” 11/11/05
KSEE 24 (Fresno, CA) 5/4/06
Maine Public Radio, “Maine Things Considered” 11/29/05
Wisconsin Public Radio, To the Best of our Knowledge 10/29/06
ABC News Now, “The Mix” 12/6/05
WWRC 1260 AM, Progressive Talk Washington, DC 12/10/06
WUNC Public Radio (NC), “The State of Things” 12/23/05
960 AM The Quake San Francisco 12/10/06
NPR, “Morning Edition” 1/7/06 Air America Radio The Jon Elliott Show 1/8/07
BBC London Radio, “The Verb”; KUOW Radio 2/18/06
LA Public Radio 3/07
The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer 2/27/06
www.kickingwind.com 9/06/07
KQED Public Radio (CA), “The California Report” 3/17/06
BBC’s The Today Program 9/20/07
WCSH6 – NBC (Portland, ME), “207” 11/29/05
BBC’s The Today Program 9/20/07
KUOW Public Radio (Seattle, WA), 3/20/06
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Late Night Live 9/27/07
WKPT Radio Network (serving TN, VA and NC), AM Tri-Cities with Janet Johnson
Washington Monthly on the Radio
KCRW, Southern California’s leading National Public Radio affiliate
Bookworm, with Michael Silverblatt
Minnesota Public Radio (covering MN & parts of WI, MI, IA, and ID)
Other:
Featured on From the Fishouse, an audio archive of emerging poets (www.fishousepoems.org); Web del Sol (www.webdelsol.org)
“A Human’s Shield,” an essay by Brian Turner, on the New York Foundation for the Arts website (www.nyfa.org)
Mentioned on numerous blogs, including www.bookslut.com and http://edwardbyrne.blogspot.com/
Poems from Here, Bullet are included in the Voices in Wartime anthology, and in the NEA’s anthology Operation Homecoming: Iraq,
Afghanistan, and the Home Front, in the Words of U.S. Troops and Their Families
Featured on the Maine Veterans for Peace website (http://www.vfpmaine.org/vfp.htm)
Featured in harriet, a blog from the Poetry Foundation 2/27/06 - 3/3/06
Poem included in “The Myth Project” production (San Diego, CA)
Mentioned in Andrew Himes interview in UTNE magazine
Mentioned in Salon Magazine 1/16/07
Featured prominently in Richard E. Robbins’ film Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience, nominated for the 2008
Academy Award for best Documentary Feature. This film was also a part of the series America at a Crossroads, broadcast on PBS in
2007
Featured in the Poetry Foundation Online Journal, “When Yellow Ribbons and Flag-Waving Aren’t Enough: An ex-soldier’s take on
recent war poetry.” September 2007
Lannan Readings and Conversations: with Bruce Weigl and Michael Silverblatt 3/5/08 (Santa Fe, NM)
United Kingdom Tour with Bloodaxe Books, March 2008
Anticipated:
September 8-9: Presentation & Reading: Davidson College North Carolina
September 17-18: Readings: US Air Force Academy in Colorado
October 4-5: Readings: Nature of Words, Bend, Oregon
October 6: Reading: Las Vegas Book Festival
October 7: Reading: University of Houston Downtown
October 8-12: Readings: Southern Georgia, locations to be announced
October 21: Readings: Midwest Series (Rockhurst University, Kansas City)
November 18: Reading: Los Angeles Central Library
Dec 5 & 6: Reading: Guggenheim Museum with Bruce Weigl
238 Main St., Farmington, ME 04938 • (207) 778-7071 • www.alicejamesbooks.org
An Affiliate of the University of Maine at Farmington