Friends of the Library Symposium Celebrates National Poetry Month
(Jackson, TN-) Please join the Friends of the Library on Friday, April 27, 2018 at St. Luke’s
Episcopal Church, 309 E. Baltimore St., for a reception and program to celebrate National Poetry
Month. Poet H. C. Palmer’s program will be on the writing process: The Road to “Judgment”:
Six Months of Revision at 7:00 following a reception at 6:30. On the following day, Saturday,
April 28 at 1:00 in the Jackson Madison County Library Program Center, 433 E. Lafayette St.,
Mr. Palmer will read from his book Feet of the Messenger.
H. C. Palmer, an assistant poetry editor at Narrative Magazine, served with the U. S. Army’s
First Infantry Division in Vietnam in 1965-1966 as a battalion surgeon. Before retiring, Palmer
had a thriving practice specializing in internal and sports medicine, and he now works with
veterans with moral injury and PTSD and directs a writing program in association with the
Writers’ Place and the Kansas City Public Libraries. He lives in Lenexa, Kansas with his wife,
Valerie.
PTSD is an intense fear reaction to life-threatening conditions that can cause nightmares and
flashbacks to the terror of battle. Moral injury is a new concept. It is related to survivor guilt,
shame, grief, despair, disgust, alienation and outrage. Many veterans with moral injury are so
ashamed of what they have done they don’t believe they deserve to be helped, so they don’t
share their feelings.
Mr. Palmer said, “It’s important to understand that moral injury is a normal response to the
terrible things that war required of our men and women in combat. I was a battalion surgeon in
Vietnam, so I know what it is like to come home from a combat zone and try to ‘get on with
life’. I’ve carried memories that have haunted me for years.”
Friends of the Library Symposium, Thursday, April 27 6:30 p.m., The Commons at St. Luke’s
Episcopal Church, 309 E. Baltimore St. and Saturday, April 28 1:00, Program Center at Main
Jackson Madison County Library, Jackson, TN 38301. Both programs are FREE and open to
the public.
For more information, contact Sue Ann Barnes, Friends of the Library Chairman, at 422-5253.
Friends of the Library Symposium Celebrates National Poetry Month
