Battle Lines

Exterior by Robert Hansen

Battle Lines
Poetry by Matthew Borczon
50 pages
$10 plus shipping
ISBN: 978-1-926860-56-5

Epic Rites Press, 2017

Matthew Borczon’s new book BATTLE LINES is a piercing, unflinching look into the lives of soldiers, sailors, sinners, survivors, and those still struggling to survive. Borczon writes in simple language about a tough subject: how servicemen and women live through a war and how they come home. He draws from his experience as a Navy corpsman in Afghanistan, as well as from the stories he has heard over the years in therapy groups, courtrooms and bars. Borczon’s poems look at the fight veterans still have on a daily basis as they try to rejoin the living world. His book spans America’s last four wars, as well as the battles fought by the families who try to understand things most vets cannot even talk about. These are the stories and nightmares that servicemen and women usually only share among themselves—told simply, honestly, un-heroically, and as brutal and ugly as war truly is.

Praise for BATTLE LINES

“Matthew Borczon is the type of writer who pulls from where the secrets are kept, he opens up entirely and shares what would be hidden under any circumstance other than therapy and art. BATTLE LINES is bleak, beautiful, bereaved, honest and above all, an example of what poetry can be; a voice for the unheard and a signpost for the lost."
—Matthew J. Hall, Screaming with Brevity

“Matthew Borczon skillfully uses sparse and direct language to depict the physical and mental horrors man unleashes upon himself and his fellow beings. Each poem is powerful on its own, but as a collection they create a haunting and quietly devastating portrait of the ravages of war.”
—William Taylor Jr., THE BLOOD OF A TOURIST

“Language usage sparse and bare to the bone—little jewels of understatement that go to places most of us have never been. Places on a map, like Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam, and uncharted places hidden in the heart—dark corners that Borczon brings to light through poems of an oftentimes startling clarity.”
—Wayne F. Burke, WORDS THAT BURN

“After reading Battle Lines, I can say: For me, there were no battle lines drawn when coming to the conclusion that this new collection of war poems from Matthew Borczon is an amazing expression of raw emotions. Borczon pulls no punches, he takes the pen and pushes it across the paper with his soul, leaving words that haunt and words that heal.”
--Victor Clevenger, COME HERE

“Three thoughts about BATTLE LINES by Matthew Borczon: 1.) Holy shit, Wolf!  You gotta publish this!  Who is this guy? Where'd he come from? And tell me all about him! 2.) The only thing better than a good bottle of tequila and a woman who looks you right in the eye.  3.) The same way my dog crowds my bed at night, these poems crowd my dreams.”
—John Yamrus, I ADMIT NOTHING

Battle Lines is available now!

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