Old Uniforms, Gear & Souvenirs Reveal Stories of War & Service

In an anthology chock-full with revealing poetry and prose, approximately 60 emerging and established military writers unpack their stories of sacrifice, hardship, joy, and laughter in uniform. Contributors to Things We Carry Still: Poems & Micro-Stories about Military Gear were challenged to capture their narratives in 300 words or less, or few lines of poetry.

The Kindle e-book edition is available for pre-order here at this link.

The print edition will release Nov. 1, 2023.

“Inspired by a prompt from writer and activist-veteran Vicki Hudson, the uniforms, objects, and souvenirs we found in closets, shoeboxes, and footlockers revealed not only anecdotes and war stories, but also threads of history,” says project co-editor Randy Brown. “We discovered that stories from recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq began to interweave with those from the Vietnam War, deployments to Korea, and even family stories from World War II.”

To motivate other writers, veterans, and readers, the anthology includes a section of 10 discussion-starters and prompts, for use in literary and history workshops, book clubs, and veterans-appreciation activities.

Lisa Stice is an award-winning poet based in North Carolina. Her work often centers on family life and parenting adjacent to the U.S. Marine Corps. She is the author of four collections, including FORCES and Permanent Change of Station, and the editor at multiple literary journals and presses worldwide. She is a past winner in the Col. Darron L. Wright Memorial Writing Awards, administered annually by the Chicago-based literary journal Line of Advance. 

Randy Brown is a journalist and poet, and a 20-year retired veteran of the Iowa Army National Guard. He is the author of Welcome to FOB Haiku: War Stories from Inside the Wire, as well as a co-editor of Why We Write: Craft Essays on Writing War. He is a three-time finalist in the Col. Darron L. Wright Memorial Writing Awards.

Vicki Hudson is a rugby coach, literary activist, and retired U.S. Army veteran based in Northern California, where she lives with her wife, two kids, and a failed service dog. She is the author of No Red Pen: Writers, Writing Groups & Critique.

Launching Nov. 1, 2023:

Things We Carry Still: Poems & Micro-Stories about Military Gear (200 pages, Middle West Press LLC), available in a $19.99 trade paperback edition through Amazon and other booksellers, as well as a $9.99 Kindle e-book edition exclusively via Amazon.

Middle West Press LLC (www.middlewestpress.com) is a Johnston, Iowa-based editor and publisher of non-fiction, journalism, and poetry. As an independent micro-press, we publish one to four titles annually. Our projects are often inspired by the people, places, and history of the American Midwest.