Poet Frederick Foote's Book Signing Event at Greetings & Readings Set for Oct. 17

HUNT VALLEY, Md. – As a Veterans Day preview, Greetings & Readings of Hunt Valley will host a multimedia poetry reading and book signing event, Saturday, Oct. 17, from 1 to 2:30 p.m., with Frederick Foote, author of Medic Against Bomb: A Doctor’s Poetry of War. 

A portion of the proceeds from Foote’s books sold at Greetings & Readings on Oct. 17 will benefit the $4 million Green Road healing garden initiative at Walter Reed scheduled to launch this Fall. Greetings & Readings also will take pre-orders and provide a personalized, autographed copy from the event at no extra charge. For more information, call 410.771.3022 or visit www.greetingsandreadings.com.

About the Book

Winner of the Grayson Books Poetry Prize (out of 180 entries) and touted as “one of the best available sources on modern war experience,” Medic Against Bomb describes the experiences of the wounded of the Iraq/Afghan Wars (both American and foreign Muslim patients) and the inspiring efforts of U.S. military medics to heal the ravages of war.

Several colleges and schools are using the book in classes on war and literature, including the U.S. Naval Academy and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. The poems derive from the cruise of the Navy hospital ship COMFORT (T-AH-20) to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and from encounters with American Wounded Warriors at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, Md., from 2001 to 2014.

An initial section titled, “Contact,” describes the direct experience of treating the wounded of war. A central “Battle Fugue” section addresses the combat experience as seen by those engaged. The final section, “Ruins of Peace,” encompasses mourning and themes of loss.  The book also touches on the roles of women in war, the so-called “clash of civilizations” and the spiritual challenges that make war a “violation of the sacred.”

About the Author

A retired U.S. Navy neurologist and the military’s foremost expert on holistic medicine, Foote brands himself as a “good grey poet,” who helps our veterans and tells their story, following the tradition of Walt Whitman.  Reviewers have compared his work to that of classic war poets such as Homer and Wilfred Owen.

He also is poetry editor of O-Dark-Thirty (the magazine of the Veterans Writing Project), and director of the Warrior Poetry Project at Walter Reed. His poems have appeared widely in national magazines, including Commonweal, The Progressive and The Journal of the American Medical Association, as well as veterans’ publications such as Warrior Writers’ After Action Review. 

During the past 15 years, Foote has created holistic medicine programs (including arts and writing programs) for our nation’s Wounded Warriors and veterans, working closely with the Institute for Integrative Health in Baltimore. In developing such programs as the Walter Reed Healing Arts Program and the Warrior Poetry Project, he learned that “making art and music, and engaging with nature, is often more effective for healing than medications or surgery, particularly for patients with brain injury or PTSD, the twin scourges of the current wars.” 

About Greetings & Readings

Located in the Hunt Valley Towne Centre on Shawan Road, Greetings & Readings of Hunt Valley is Baltimore’s premier independent gift store. With 30,000-square-feet of merchandise, Greetings & Readings houses a full book department, a huge selection of Baltimore Ravens fan gear, a Vera Bradley boutique, Hallmark Gold Crown store, custom printing department and more. For more, visit www.greetingsandreadings.com.