"we listen to the eucalyptus scratch the violet sky"

Hugh Martin reads his poem "Foot Patrol" during an on-air interview with Iowa Public Radio, as interviewer Charity Nebbe "explores art created by veterans in their post-military lives." The initial serenity of eucalyptus in the poem is juxtaposed with the violence that Martin experienced first-hand during the Iraq war. Martin admits in the interview that his interest in poetry prior to Iraq was not piqued until he took an undergraduate creative writing class. In the recent Spring 2013 Issue of The Iowa Review, Hugh Martin is featured as the winner of the 2012 Jeff Sharlet Memorial Award for Veterans, along with some of his poems. Listen to the IPR interview here. Iowa Public Radio is part of the NPR digital network. The Stick Soldiers is available at the BOA Bookstore.