“War is waiting.
A soldier, boots-on-ground, now, waiting to be told, it is time now, time to move into a zone of fire, and use his gun, and try to stay alive. His wife, in a house, in the middle of the night, a telephone ringing, that sounds like the bugle they play at military funerals, because she is here, at home, waiting to be told, he is dead. A child standing, there, in Afghanistan, in front of a house of sand, with a sheep, and a story, the story you could never imagine, my husband tells me, that boy, waiting for the war to be over, even though, he has never known anything else. Or a child, in America, my child, sitting at this kitchen table, waiting, waiting six more months for his father to come home.”
–Amalie Flynn from WIFE AND WAR: THE MEMOIR
On Wednesday, September 11th, from 6-8pm, Barrington Books welcomes author Amalie Flynn for a reading and signing of her powerful new memoir: WIFE AND WAR.
WIFE AND WAR: THE MEMOIR is Amalie Flynn’s story of 9/11, of being just blocks away and witnessing the terror attack, of running in the dust and debris as the Twin Towers collapsed behind her, and of how, in the years that followed 9/11, she became intertwined with the war on terror that began on that day. She became a military wife. She and her husband survived his fifteen month deployment to Afghanistan. And then they endured the aftermath of war when war followed her husband home, occupied their house and their marriage, and created battlefields they did not expect.
Flynn blends a mix of poetry and narrative to tell a deeply personal story that is at once evocative, beautiful, heartbreaking and hopeful. She graciously sat down with READ LOCAL to discuss her new book.
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Image may be NSFW.
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RL: First, why did you choose the passage above, in particular, to share with us today?
RL: Your poems in WIFE AND WAR are raw and powerful. Have you always written poetry?
RL: What moved you to begin writing about your experience after 9/11 and as a military wife?
Intellectually I am inspired by my experiences, of witnessing 9/11, of being a military wife, of facing war, of my husband’s experience of going away to war and coming home. I know our experiences of war and deployment and reintegration are experiences that so many other military families go through but that not many other Americans know about and I feel they should know about it. Of course, I am very affected by Afghanistan, the Afghan people, the stories my husband told me, and the ones he didn’t, the men and women and children who live in war each and every day. And not just in Afghanistan but in all of the places in this world where war is waged, and all of the people around this world who wake up to war each and every day. In 2001, 9/11 was the catalyst for what happened next in my life, and what happened next in the world, the Global War on Terror that has now spanned over a decade, at the cost of countless lives, and which has marked the experiences of so many in deep, profound ways. My experience of 9/11 weaves itself through, the violence I witnessed on that day weaves its way through the aftermath of that day, the violence of war and the effects of that violence on individual people, their relationships, their daily lives, whether it be the pain of separation during deployment or the pain of a child standing in the middle of war, in a war torn country.So war, war compels me to write, to write about war and what it does. I want my voice to be heard and I want to be a part of the greater, global discussion of war and peace.
RL: Are there poems that have been inspired by other military spouses as well?
It is a memoir so the poetic narrative of the book, the things that happen, are mine, my experiences. But, yes, I know they happen to other military spouses as well. In 2010, I started two blogs: WIFE AND WAR and SEPTEMBER ELEVENTH. I have published poems about my experiences on my blogs and I have had the privilege of hearing feedback from readers. Many military wives tell me that I am giving a voice to their experience. Also, my poems online are read by readers in over 90 countries, many of them non-military and non-American. That my poems resonate so broadly tells me that they are about more than the military experience, they are about humanity, the universal experiences we have, the connections we all make in our own lives, how fragile they are, and how they can be disconnected by conflict, and what it takes to mend them. This is really my intent, to show how connected we are to one another, because of the humanity we share.
RL: Tell us more about what you mean by that.
This is not just my story of 9/11, or of being a military wife. This is a story about being human, about the human connections we all make, and what happens when those connections are threatened or when they are cut and broken. It is not just my story – it is our story. War covers this globe. It seems like every day we hear about another conflict, more violence, and discussions of military strategy. But war is not an abstract idea. Countries that go to war with one another are not abstract entities. Countries are filled with people and families and war is painful and violent. WIFE AND WAR: THE MEMOIR is my story, the story of how I witnessed 9/11 and how, years later, my husband went to war, and came home. In many ways, it is a story of luck. Because I was lucky on 9/11, my husband was lucky in Afghanistan, and we are both lucky that he came home fine, without getting killed or suffering major injury or disability. But war has effects. Reintegration was hard. And our story of reintegration is not unique. It is a story that speaks to the experience of so many military couples. Ultimately, I am expressing a reality of war, that even in its most graceful or kindest form, war leaves its mark. It leaves its mark, here, in America and it leaves its mark abroad, in countries where war is waged, and where people, with families and relationships and hopes and dreams, not too different from our own, live in war. So WIFE AND WAR: THE MEMOIR is our story, because war is our story, all of ours, all of us living in this global family, living in a time of war, and it is our responsibility to actively engage with the narrative of war, to humanize war, and to know and respond to what it does, on an intimate, individual level. This is our story, the story of a global family, and, as members of a global family, we have obligations to one another, obligations of peace and kindness and understanding.
RL: What do you hope readers will take away from this book?
First of all, I want readers to have their own experience with the book. Each reader is going to take away something very personal and unique from the book, and it is not my decision as to exactly what that is. But I do think that by reading about my experiences, readers will understand the human side of war. And they will see the humanity that connects each of us, how we are all connected, all of us, all across the globe, by the universal in our experiences, our relationships, our lives. I think readers will think about family, the small nuclear families we all form, the family a country makes, and the global family we are all apart of. I hope readers will see not only the death and destruction and violence of war but also the humanity and growth and re-connection of human relationships. I hope they will see that there is conflict but there is also peace and resolution. And I think that readers will see themselves in my story, will understand more of their own story by reading mine.
RL: We’re very honored that you chose 9/11 — which is obviously a very personal day for you — to share your memoir with us, so thank you.
AF: I’m hoping this will be one way for people in the community to mark the day and commemorate those lost in the tragedy, so thank you for having me.
Amalie Flynn is an American writer and the author of two blogs: WIFE AND WAR and SEPTEMBER ELEVENTH. Flynn’s WIFE AND WAR poetry has appeared in THE NEW YORK TIMES AT WAR and in TIME’S BATTLELAND, has appeared in her blog for THE HUFFINGTON POST, and has received mention from THE NEW YORK TIMES MEDIA DECODER. Her SEPTEMBER ELEVENTH blog has received mention from CNN. In addition, her WIFE AND WAR blog has a global readership, with readers from over 90 countries. Flynn lives in Barrington, Rhode Island with her husband and their two children.
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Launch Date: September 11th, 2013
ISBN 978-0-9897886-0-1 (Print) 978-0-9897886-1-8
Price Mass Market Paperback $14.95