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Beach Landing, Iwo Jima

Tony Barnstone
Tony Barnstone

They didn’t shoot at us. A silent scene

until we clogged the beach, and then — all hell,

potato masher hand grenades, machine

gun fire, artillery. I swear each shell

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passed close enough you could reach up and catch

it like a ball. I crawled across black sand,

and used each corpse for cover. Don’t attach

yourself, is what I learned. Push it down and

crawl in a hole. Go numb, and you’ll survive,

maybe, as I survived. I didn’t hate

the man who charged me with his bayonet.

I crouched and shot him dead so I could live.

But the photo in his helmet cut my heart.

A child, smiling at me. And then I wept.

(U.S. Marine, Iwo Jima, 1945)


Tony Barnstone is the Albert Upton Professor of English Language and Literature at Whittier College and is the author of several collections of poetry as well as being a distinguished translator of Chinese poetry and an editor of literary textbooks. He has been awarded the grand prize of the Strokestown International Poetry Festival and is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the California Arts Council. “Beach Landing, Iwo Jima” is from his collection
Tongue of War: From Pearl Harbor to Nagasaki, published by BkMk Press, and is reprinted by permission.

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Tony Barnstone
Tony Barnstone

They didn’t shoot at us. A silent scene

until we clogged the beach, and then — all hell,

potato masher hand grenades, machine

gun fire, artillery. I swear each shell

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passed close enough you could reach up and catch

it like a ball. I crawled across black sand,

and used each corpse for cover. Don’t attach

yourself, is what I learned. Push it down and

crawl in a hole. Go numb, and you’ll survive,

maybe, as I survived. I didn’t hate

the man who charged me with his bayonet.

I crouched and shot him dead so I could live.

But the photo in his helmet cut my heart.

A child, smiling at me. And then I wept.

(U.S. Marine, Iwo Jima, 1945)


Tony Barnstone is the Albert Upton Professor of English Language and Literature at Whittier College and is the author of several collections of poetry as well as being a distinguished translator of Chinese poetry and an editor of literary textbooks. He has been awarded the grand prize of the Strokestown International Poetry Festival and is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the California Arts Council. “Beach Landing, Iwo Jima” is from his collection
Tongue of War: From Pearl Harbor to Nagasaki, published by BkMk Press, and is reprinted by permission.

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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