The Shape of Our Faces No Longer Matters is a collection of poems written by war veteran Tony Mena and is part of the Military-Service Literature Series. While on tour in Iraq, Mena was awarded the Navy Achievement Medal for numerous acts of bravery and has since been a prolific writer, having been published in a number of journals and publications.
In his debut collection, Mena illuminates the experience of warfare for his readers, creating poems that are moving and emotive. Key themes include the solidarity between soldiers, the experience of warfare, and life back at home. Through these poems, readers who have never experienced the horrors of warfare can gain some understanding of it, through Mena's moving, poetic retelling of his personal experiences.
This collection contains 58 poems, which are then divided into three sections. The first section is called "How to Build a War Machine," and contains poems such as "Ode to a Pineapple Grenade," and "Baring the Trees," which both detail the immense losses of warfare. The second section of the collection is called "I Painted Myself (Burning)" which is a eulogy to the men lost, including the moving poem "Memorial Day." The third section of the poem, titled "Welcome Home, or the Sound of Your Blood Humming," is about the struggle of returning home from warfare and adapting to society. This includes the poem "Survivor's Guilt," which is about the aftermath and ramifications of warfare on a soldier's mental health.
