Vietnam ‘soldier-poet’ dies of cancer at age 65

PORTLAND – Steve Mason, a soldier and poet who became the unofficial bard of the Vietnam War, has died at 65.

Mason died Wednesday of lung cancer at his home in Ashland, his family said. Considered the poet laureate of Vietnam veterans, Mason’s verse gave voice to a generation’s wounds. His poem “The Wall Within” was read at the 1984 dedication of the Vietnam Wall in Washington.

Mason began to write poetry to make sense of the war and connect with others who had the same experience, said former wife Diane Weirch.

He began by writing love poems in the 1970s, co-writing “Moths and Violets” with a friend. Eventually, he began opening up the wounds of war in blank verse, publishing the trilogy he is best known for: “Johnny’s Song: Poetry of a Vietnam Veteran” in 1986, “Warrior for Peace” in 1988 and “The Human Being – A Warrior’s Journey Toward Peace and Mutual Healing” in 1990.