Battle Dressing traces the emotional journey of a Vietnam nurse. When you first meet Dana Shuster, she's fresh and naive, sounding just like a sorority girl as she wonders, "What do you pack/To take to a war?" Next, she proceeds to fall in love with every mangled, morphined soldier who says something like, "You the first white woman ever touch me." Later, she's harder, aloof, and professional. She's also better at her job. And finally back in the States, she alternatively seems to be apologizing to an uncomprehending home front for the changes inside her--and flaunting them.
The 1999 Houston Writers League Poetry Chapbook Contest drew entries from around the world. First place, for Battle Dressing went to Dana Shuster.
"As for technique, Shuster's got plenty of it, but she doesn't rely on finesse. Battle Dressing is kick-ass poetry.--The Houston Writer"
