Sixteen veterans, their relatives and interested community members met for a poetry and prose reading June 10, as service members recalled and reflected on their war experiences.
The event, hosted by Southwest Writers and funded by a grant from New Mexico Arts, was from 1-3 p.m. June 10 in the Cole Community Resource Room at McCurdy Ministries. It is one in a series of public readings hosted by Southwest Writers.
Six writers spoke over the course of an hour and 45 minutes, including four veterans and two family members.
The first to speak was Vietnam War Marine Corps veteran Daniel J. Bruce, who shared a letter addressed to his father. The letter recounted how Bruce wished his father would have asked about his war experiences after he returned.
“I just wanted you to ask and listen,” Bruce said. “I just wanted you to hold me.”
Navy veteran Chuck Nemeth, 98, also shared a piece of writing. He began writing short stories and novels when he was 85 years old. Because Nemeth is legally blind, his work was read aloud by fellow veteran Jim Tritten.
Tritten was the project leader for this series of readings and is an advocate for veterans and their family members writing and speaking about traumatic experiences. He said the practice works as exposure therapy, giving speakers a chance to confront suppressed memories.
Following one reading by a veteran family member, Tritten said that her ability to speak confidently about her memories was “living proof that the process works.”
“When she first told me that story, it was in a little, lilting voice,” he said. “She could barely get it out.”
Mike Hibner served in the Navy in the 1960s but only began writing and speaking about his time in the service after his retirement, when he had more time. He said the writing process led him to recall memories he had not thought about for years.
Southwest Writers previously hosted public readings in Bernalillo, Sandoval and Santa Fe counties, but the goal was to bring veterans’ work to other counties, too. Public readings began in March and continued through June 13, with the last one in Belen.
Southwest Writers has published two collections of writings by veterans: “Holes in Our Hearts” and “Unbreaking the Circle: Stories of Service.” Both are available on Amazon.