The War Diary of John Ciardi

Fayetteville, Arkansas: University of Arkansas Press, 1988. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. Format is 5 inches by 9 inches. xxiv, 131, [5] pages. Frontis illustration. Includes List of Illustrations; Illustrations. Introduction by Edward M. Cifelli; Foreword by Robert M. "Mac" Cordray; The Diary; The Poems; Appendices; People and Nicknames; Acronyms and Initials; Places; and Things, etc. Also includes black and white illustrations of John Ciardi as an Aviation Cadet; Typical quarters area for non-air crew members; View of bombardier's position in B29; John Ciardi receiving Air Medal from Brigadier General Emmett (Rosie) O'Donnell (Easter 1943); John Ciardi in flight suit; John Ciardi at crap table in Sergeant's Club (Saipan); Checking upper forward turret on "Slick Dick"; Clouds over Japan from Bombardier's position on B-29; American cemetery on Saipan; Saipan natives bathing; View of bombs leaving bomb bay of B-29; Factory in Mitsubishi Japan (put out of commission after thirteen bombing missions). John Anthony Ciardi (June 24, 1916 - March 30, 1986) was an American poet, translator, and etymologist. He also translated Dante's Divine Comedy, wrote several volumes of children's poetry, pursued etymology, contributed to the Saturday Review as a columnist and long-time poetry editor, and directed the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference in Vermont. In 1959, Ciardi published a book on how to read, write, and teach poetry, How Does a Poem Mean?, which has proven to be among the most-used books of its kind. Ciardi also had a network television program on CBS, Accent. This diary was discovered among John Ciardi's papers a year after his death on Easter Sunday, 1986. Following the dated entries in the diary are a number of Ciardi's poems--some never before published--written at random throughout the diary. Ciardi records his days and nights as a gunner on a B-29 in the South Pacific during four of the last terrible months of World War II.