John Philip Drury, Author at Consequence Forum

John, the author of four poetry collections, most recently Sea Level Rising (Able Muse Press, 2015), teaches at the University of Cincinnati. “Reception Center” is part of The Bad Soldier: A Picaresque Memoir about enlisting in the army to avoid being drafted during the Vietnam War, which is currently seeking a publisher. The opening chapter, “Heading for a Total Eclipse,” was published as a Ploughshares Solo. Another chapter, “Interrogator’s Guide,” appeared in The Evansville Review.

Reception Center

by John Philip Drury | Feb 7, 2020 | Nonfiction

1. So I found myself sitting on a bench, waiting in a wooden building at Fort Holabird, an Army base in Baltimore, Maryland. A corporal, looking glum, walked through the rows of new recruits who were still dressed in blue jeans and button-down shirts, raggedy shorts...