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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Randall Jarrell
Randall Jarrell
Known for his essays, criticism and poetry Randall Jarrell was born in 1914...
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The Literature of War
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The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner  
by Randall Jarrell

From my mother's sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.



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From The Complete Poems by Randall Jarrell, published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc. Copyright © 1969, 1996 by Mrs. Randall Jarrell. Used with permission.
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