Joseph R. Carval Iv

A Deadly Fog: Pith & Conflict Joseph R. Carval Iv

A Deadly Fog harmonically balances contributions from the poet and the artist to create an aesthetic about the tragedy of armed conflict. It portrays how war brings whole societies to its knees, killing, maiming and displacing thousands of people, both civilian and combatant. Aside from the tragedy of war, the event creates thousands of jobs for those who oversee the organizing and planning for troop supplies, arms, and materials to rebuild what war destroys. The supply of arms and materials produce a sizable component to a nation's wealth. At another level, war provides the news media subjects about which to write, video and photograph. Outside the realm of reality, authors, moviemakers and computer gamers use the subject to sell books and media. In this last manifestation of the idea of war, poets and artists have occasionally used war as a theme to illustrate grace and horror or human virtues and vices. In A Deadly Fog the writer and artist combine surrealism, realism, satire and irony set against the backdrop of these four themes, not to honor war, but to argue against its glorification. In a series of poems, vignettes and graphic illustrations, we come to feel not merely the power of the battle, but the power of our emotions.