The haunting poetry of The Ghosts of Babylon is as near to the crucible of war as you can get without wearing Kevlar and camouflage.
Every war triggers the question—what’s war like? The Ghosts of Babylon offers eyewitness accounts of warriors who lost their innocence dueling in the sands of the Iraqi inferno or fighting in the chilling Afghan mountains or on the khaki-colored plains. Wounds enshrouded under the bandages of headlines and sound bites will never bridge the gap between soldier and civilian.
Only a soldier poet lays bare the honor and horror. Only a veteran reveals the physical and mental battles waged by the warrior caste. Only the war poet distills the emotions of those who tasted bravery and terror, love and vengeance, life and death. Based on the experiences of a U.S. Army Ranger turned private security contractor, these powerful poems capture the essence of Jonathan Baxter’s twelve military and civilian deployments.
Jonathan reveals the contradictory nature of deployment in a war zone—exhilaration, monotony, ugliness, and occasional beauty. From ancient times to present day, war poetry telegraphs a dispatch across the ages about the universal experiences of war—brotherhood and bereavement, duty and disillusionment, and heroism and horror. No history mirrors the brutal realities and emotions of armed conflict than the shock of war erupting from the warrior poet’s pen.
Jonathan resurrects the ghosts and gods of soldiers past. His poignant memorial to fallen brothers transmits the shadowy presence and ultimate sacrifices of the coffined to the fortunate un-coffined. The Ghosts of Babylon strips away the cultural varnish of the ‘enemy,’ painting the bitter irony of every day lives caught in the crosshairs of terror, chaos, and death. From moving to startling to soulful, these masterpieces provoke you to think about the truths and consequences of those who risk their lives on the frontline of freedom—for you, their friends, and our country.
This poetry anthology is based on Jonathan Baxter’s experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan, first as a U.S. Army Ranger, and later as a private security contractor. After his third deployment Jonathan started writing these poems and continued over the course of six years and nine more military and civilian deployments. Jonathan acknowledges, “I was, at best, only an average member of my community. Compared to the others with whom I was privileged to work, my experiences were also just average, and simply my own. I wrote these for myself alone. My intent was to be as honest as possible with myself in the writing. To the end that I attained that honesty, I will consider this book a success. If others can look in and see some of their experiences and emotions reflected, I will consider this book that much more successful.”
