The Stranger Myself: Poetics of Identity

"Real Boys" concoct their identities in the mirrors of war, most often some particular war. Mine was World War II, but any war will do. The language of war empowers imagination and shapes the way we take on the world. It feels dangerous out there. The stranger is our enemy. We learn the art of war from playground skirmishes, and nowadays, the superheroes of television and video games. Our shared tattoo reads "Born to Fight." Any test becomes a battle, even our futile attempts to escape what we have become. So it is - from the shadows of war - the following poems decamp.