Orion Rising

Doug Rawlings' poems about the Vietnam War full of anger shame suffering and solace are hard to bear--as they should be. His poems about family life children the passing of friends since the war are honest vulnerable playful and loving. Together they allow him and us full humanity an expansion of humanity that is particularly poignant in light of its denial to those on both sides who did not survive the war. - Rob Shetterly I have met Doug Rawlings only once and then only in passing at a Veterans for Peace convention in his home state of Maine in 2010 but I have been reading his poetry for nearly 40 years. Spending time with this compilation of his life's work I feel as if I'm in the company of an old and dear and trusted friend. The range of his emotions the diversity of his interests the keenness of his sensibilities his capacity to be fully and consciously human leave no doubt that his has been and continues to be a life examined and well worth living. - W. D. Ehrhart