Review: Rice Paddy Stew and Saigon Tea

Rice Paddy Stew and Saigon Tea by Kerry "Doc" Pardue
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

MWSA Review

Rice Paddy Stew and Saigon Tea is a combination of verse and prose. The verse is extraordinary—heartbreaking in places, thoughtful in others. In its entirety, the book explores the impact of war that follows young soldiers home after the fighting is over, whether they are dead or alive when they make that journey. For example, the first poem, “A Brand New Day,” is determined and hopeful, ending with these lines:

“Today is a guide to build upon future days
I choose to respect life
I choose to be more loving and kind
I choose to be loving in word and deed
I choose to begin with changing me
I choose to be thankful for events in my life even PTSD
I choose by loving me.”

Certain lines make the reader smile, like in a poem called “Chris Jackson,” where the poet ponders what a friend might be doing now: “As I think of you in Heaven I know you will make the Angels blush and/St. Peter will shake his head when he hears them complain and/ All he can say is that Chris Jackson acting up again?”

There are stories about old vets and young, some who made it home and some who didn’t. Coming from a medic who tried to rescue them all, each battlefield loss is painful and the reader can feel the author’s ongoing personal connection with the many ghosts of war.

One poem is especially vivid. “In the Shadow of The Blade” is about a Huey Helicopter, #091. It begins: “We were soldiers brave and true/ Who rode upon you in our youth.” It ends with: “After fifty years it is time for both of us to rest/ We both know we did our best our story is finally complete/ For we are HOME at last.”

Other poems—like “Why Do the Good Ones Die So Young” or “Your Life Made a Difference to Me” or “Wrong Place at the Wrong Time”—make the reader put down the book for a moment and think about the ghosts who haunt this author. Perhaps the most poignant of all, “We Lost Another Corpsman/Medic Today,” will haunt his readers.

Review by Joyce Faulkner (June 2020)

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