The Homefront

I wrote this one after seeing soldiers on campus being greeted by some students. What stays behind their eyes?


“The Homefront”

“He stares at the red, cracked earth while he thinks.
He hears the call; it’s time to go to war.
His feet march a cadence of fatigue,
His red, cracked hands grip the stock of his gun.
His rifle is almost too heavy now,
Weighed down by the death he claims with hollow pride.
Dead weight is the worst to carry they say.
At his side a brother erupts in red,
Fountains blasting forth, unstoppable, as
The rat-tat of the guns blisters the air.
He tries to piece his man back together
But he can’t, there‘s no man left to save.”

This is what his eyes say as we shake hands:
No “thank you” can bring a brother back home.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's a sonnet!

"Weltgeist" You wake to a cold morning light, dull, frigid; A pallor has crept around your visage. The Ghost comes again, the world-spirit Crashing down on you, I can still hear it Draining, feeding, pulling from you your light. Where has it gone? You always were so bright. This world, this Ghost, has ever been a part Of all our many lives, and from the start It has been tearing us to shreds, but now It is time to rise up, to fight the Ghost And prove that we can survive and thrive, how Powerful we can be, and as a host Of humans, we must find the goodness, bow To the moments that will never be lost.
Read more

Thoughts right now

This was spur of the moment ideas that just came to me. These concepts embody what I want to write about, what I want to say to the world. More actual prose is coming next week, after finals. It's been a little hectic lately We are capable of so much more than we ever think we will be. The power inside of us in incomparable, and we don’t even know it. The capacity for great good and great evil is inherent in every one of us, but what unlocks that potential? Is it society? God? The universe? Or is it what we do each and every day? Our lives are built upon the visions and revisions of our lives, and what we are is more than the sum of our parts. Our history does not define us, nor does our present confine us. Our future frees us, and that freedom calculates to the true nature of our being: there is always redemption, hope, faith. We can be so much more than what we think we can be, but it’s up to us to work towards that goal. So what if she doesn’t care about you anymore. So wh...
Read more

Monsters

This idea cam,e up when I was watching all the sad social media posts at night and wondering why they always start being posted at midnight or so. Why late at night instead of during the day? Night time is when the monsters come out. They’re big and frightening, their long sharp claws gleam red in the moonlight. Some are covered in fur, some scaly. Each monster is unlike the other, except for their hunger. They prowl the town, swallowing people whole. They don’t leave anyone unscathed, and they never get full. Night time is when the monsters come out. I see them when I’m brave enough to look. They slink across the streets; their tails are swishing back and forth. Their mouths drip with saliva, waiting hungrily for their next meal. They growl and grunt, hack and cough, spit and curse. I shake as I watch them hunt, as I watch the people ground to bits between the monsters’ powerful jaws. Night time is when the monsters come out. They lurk in the shadows, waiting for someone to ...
Read more