An Analysis Of Brian Turner's 'A True War Story'

Capturing the realities of war is not everyone's cup of tea. One has to be feel the emotions that inspire vivid imagery in words. True war stories can be written based off of true events that have occurred and bring out emotions in the poets who witness them. Brian Turner, author of 2000 lbs, stated in an interview that while in Iraq, he felt “very isolated from the relevance of what felt like a prior life”(poemoftheweek.com). Its seems like a split from life at home to a warzone with conflicting feelings. He began capturing his experiences of the war in the form of poetry. Brian Turner turned his Iraq war experience and his masters degree in literature and poetry into an opportunity to oppose the resolution of conflict through war. Tim O’Brien is a Vietnam Warr veteran who struggled with PTSD and Turner’s opinions in his story, “2000 lbs,” share similarities with “How To Tell A True War Story”. Turner’s poem 2000 lbs describes a suicide

bomb attack at Ashur Square in the marketplace of Mosul where citizens try to lead a normal life in a warzone. War is a overpriced political and scarring battle that these poets express in their writings.
Brian Turner in his first stanza gives his readers the point of view of the enemy, but yet describes him also as a normal person so the reader sympathizes for him. War is a word that represents destruction and chaos so Turner refers to war as “it”. Turner doesn’t want to give war power over him, so he used “it”, like saying he-who-must-not-be-named. The way he described the enemy was not biased at all, but he described him as being forced into a decision that gives him no choice at all; he was represented as a soldier fighting for his cause. Turner writes, “It begins simply with a fist, white knuckled and tight, glossy with sweat. With two eyes in a rear view mirror watching for a convoy. The radio a soundtrack that adrenaline has pushed into silence, replacing it with a heartbeat, his thumb trembling over the button.” (Turner). This man has a mission to kill many and his body language makes us question if he was contemplating his ideals and decision and his pounding of his heart and the rigidity of his petrified body is his fight or flight mentality. Tim O;Brian mentioned in “How to Tell a True War Story,” morals aren’t present in a true war story. This is a true war story because if our suicide bomber that thought about his morals and had not pressed the trigger on all of the innocent citizens, that wouldn't be true. That would have turned into a Hollywood story with a happy ever after for everybody.
The poem is written to show the suicide bomber, a taxi driver, a National guard, a couple on a bicycle, a civil affairs officer, an old woman and her grandson, and a telephone pole.

Real war stories are told for each of these unfortunate people and there are only tragic endings. The Iraqi taxi driver carefreely lights a Miami cigar or cigarette and his life flashes before him and he thinks of the women he lost and loved so much; Shatha. The imagery around his death has a lot of descriptions of what I conclude to; heaven, such as “flight of gold,” circles, and summer of 197. These all can represent a halo of golden light and summer as in the sunlight and heavens above taking this innocent man up. Another thing I think of when reading this poem and is connecting the fact that the suicide bomber said, “Inshallah,” is that the bomber believes he is doing this for Allah and he will go to Heaven, but yet the Quran’s translations for Jihad does not mean specifically Holy War, like many interpret it, instead it means Spiritual

Struggles.
Being able to feel what the grandmother went through as she cradles her dead grandchild is a reality of war that so many mothers have to face. "To have your heart broken one last time before dying, to kiss a child given sight of a life he could never live? It's impossible, this isn't the way we die." Turner’s visual description of these horrors open eyes to seeing the love stories that are forgotten in these war stories. Rasheed and Sefa are cycling and they see what will happen to them through the window. All the battles occurring in Iraq involve civilians in one way or another and are violent and destructive interruptions of the residents’ day to day lifestyle and relationship between themselves and the people they love.
Like many war poets, Tim O’Brien and Brian Turner look at the horrible effects of war because the pain will affects those who had to see their loved ones leave them and they have to live with those memories until life comes to an end. Tim O’Brien’s used his own experiences in Vietnam to emphasize that real war stories make the stomach believe. While reading “2000 lbs” many, many times, I felt so many emotions for all of the people in the marketplace, however, it could be a made-story but with all the pathos that the author put in, it feels like a real war story.