W . D . Ehrhart William Daniel Ehrhart ( born September 30 , 1948 in Roaring Spring , Pennsylvania ) is an American poet , writer , scholar and Vietnam veteran . Ehrhart has been called " the dean of Vietnam war poetry . " Donald Anderson , editor of War , Literature & the Arts , said Ehrhart ’ s , is “ the best single , unadorned , gut - felt telling of one American ’ s route into and out of America ’ s longest war . ” Ehrhart has been an active member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War ( VVAW ) . He was a 1993 Pew Fellowships in the Arts . Life . Immediately upon graduating High School in June 1966 , Ehrhart joined the United States Marine Corps , serving three years , including 13 months in Vietnam . Ehrhart , an Infantry Sergeant , was awarded the Purple Heart for injuries he received while fighting in Hue City . He subsequently earned bachelor ' s and master ' s degrees , and ( at the age of 52 ) a doctorate . Over the years , he has held a wide variety of jobs , from merchant seaman to newspaper reporter to high school teacher . He currently teaches at The Haverford School . Ehrhart began writing when he was 15 years old , and has been writing more or less continuously ever since . His first published work , a poem about Swarthmore College , appeared seven years later in the Chronicle of Higher Education , and the following year eight of his poems were included in " Winning Hearts and Minds : War Poems by Vietnam Veterans " . Exclusively a poet until he was almost 30 , he has since written and published a wide variety of nonfiction prose from 400 - word newspaper commentaries to 40 - page scholarly essays to 400 - page personal narratives . The influence of Ehrhart ' s encounter with the Vietnam War can readily be seen in his writing , but though he is known primarily as a " Vietnam War poet , " in fact his subject matter ranges widely . He has written essays and articles on such topics as radio disc jockeys , tugboats on the Delaware River , the Internal Revenue Service , and a variety of modern and contemporary poets including William Wantling to Daniel Hoffman . His wife and daughter are major sources of inspiration for his poetry . His poems also reflect his respect for nature , his love of friends , his active engagement with the world around him , and his consternation at the human condition . Bibliography . Anthologie . Poems and prose have also been reprinted in over 100 anthologies , textbooks , cultural studies , critical studies and other books . Recent examples include : His favorite poem . A Scientific Treatise for My Wife By W . D . Ehrhart The ancients thought the world is flat < br > and rides upon a turtle ’ s back , < br > or that the planets , sun and stars < br > revolve around the earth in crystal spheres . Thus they defined the universe < br > till Galileo burst simplicity < br > by gazing at the heavens with a glass , < br > confirming Kepler and Copernicus . All hell broke loose , < br > churchmen apoplectic , and the renaissance , < br > and finally Newton to explain it all , < br > a scientific substitute for Adam ’ s fall . Not exactly simple , but it worked < br > till Einstein stumbled on some quirks < br > in Newton ’ s logic , and explicable < br > at last evolved incomprehensible . Not good enough , said Stephen Hawking , < br > who proceeded to apply his daunting < br > intellect to postulating ways < br > black holes disfigure time and space . He ’ s got a Cambridge Ph . D . ; < br > he ’ s looking for a unifying theory , < br > and he ’ s covered acres with equations . < br > Amazing . Centuries of speculation . Okay , I ’ m not a physicist . < br > But even geniuses can miss the obvious , < br > and I don ’ t need a Ph . D . to know < br > the universe begins and ends with you .