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Archive for

Dec 20

Apache

By William Adler

The black
Flutter whirls
Above the sharp clack-clack…
Rocks
And slender moon-shadows
collapse across my path
Beautiful machines—
passing in the perfect night’s
clear sky.

William Adler currently serves on active duty in Fort Irwin, California. He has served in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, and most recently, Afghanistan. When time allows he captures some of his experiences, and those of others, in short prose, or poetry. Originally from Marshfield, Massachusetts he chose a career of soldiering after college graduation but someday hopes to return to the Northeast to teach.

Dec 6

Twin Tower Response

By David Pointer

She shows pictures of an Iraqi billboard
Saddam Hussein riding in a fiery chariot,

her late brother emailed all these pictures
before his humvee floorboard exploded

grief entombs us like a shared grave as I
pass back the increasingly heavier photos,

pungent burning metal melting our way,
faltering, we pokerface for any new façade

Invisible Jewl

It was time to tuck in all
rear echelon office pogues,
Bill Jewl had his sniper
graduation tale to share,
Carlos Hathcock had come
to bless all bullets built
for cerebral hemispheres
or those trained to trigger
on urban enemy snipers
annihilating intel or
stupidity or other life
forms in between

David Scott Pointer is the son of a piano playing bank robber who died when David was 3 years old. David later served in the Marine military police. In 2010, his poetry collection “Warhammer Piano Bar” had three poems nominated for The Pushcart Prize.

Dec 6

Dogtags

By Donald Loomis

LITTLE PIECES OF METAL

 

NAME.

SERVICE NUMBER.

BLOOD TYPE.

RELIGIOUS PREFERENCE.

 

A TINKLING TESTIMONY TO YOUR EXISTENCE,

THEY IDENTIFY YOU AS A SOLDIER.

OF YOUR LOVES AND HATES,

PLANS AND DREAMS,

NO ROOM FOR TRIVIALITY.

Read more

Dec 3

I Should Be Dead

By Tom Garcia

I feel like I should be dead—not my friend. After all, he was sitting in the seat that had been mine all week. No one should feel this intense pain and sadness, which continues to ebb and flow, 4 years later. Unfortunately, I know that I am not alone. I suspect that while these feelings may diminish or fade periodically, they will always be present.

Am I afraid to let the feelings go? If I let them go, will my memories of my friend also fade? My counselor told me no. I want to believe her, and to a point, I do. She did help me, but she can only do so much. I can only do so much.

It may sound strange, but sometimes my brain has a mind of its own. It takes me to places that I do not want to go—or revisit. The harder I try to steer away, the faster I arrive. The more I try to ignore it, the brighter the neon sign flashes. All this when I am awake. Read more