Contested Terrain

CONTESTED TERRAIN captures the myriad identities inside a veteran shaped by birth, geography and, later, a set of experiences that belie any hand-me-down wisdom. "Cave Country" sees the green, fertile surface give way as the illusion collapses beneath the speaker's feet; in "Desert Skies," a barrage of war images hit faster than the speaker can process them; and "Returning to the Hill Country" shows the altered landscape, both physical and mental, that awaits his return. The final section, "A Handful of Dust" shifts from the individual to the culture of fear that has become a new, uncomfortable normal. Gray's speakers still believe that beauty exists-often in an uneasy coexistence with tension, hypervigilance, and an ever-changing consciousness.