Here are a selection of poems written for Veterans:
Memorial Day Storm by Philip J. Metres III, Ph.D
– for my father and his veteran brothers
In crooked lines, the old soldiers pass.
I point out their medals to my little girls
Till lightning scars the gray matter of sky
And thunderheads bleed, scattering the parade.
Years ago, my veteran father pointed to me
Where they run when it thunders,
When thunderheads scatter the parade
Into a hundred houses.
Our neighbor bolts when it thunders
Under the bed, in the closet—
Into a hundred houses
Of memory, where nothing’s over.
Under the bed, in the closet
He’s back over there, a prisoner
Of memory, where nothing’s over
And he will not tell them what he knows.
He’s back over there, imprisoned
Tonight, and many nights, the storms
And he will not tell them what he knows.
After all, he’s still alive
Tonight, and many nights, the storms
Tap out a code no one knows.
After all, he’s still alive.
Unlike his friend behind the wall
Tapping out code no one here knows
In his dreams, trying to escape again.
Like and unlike his friends in their colonial houses
Who want to leave their mortgages and spouses.
In his dreams, trying to escape again.
The phantom limbs of trees ache in their sockets.
Who really wants to live in a dream?
Something in him struggles to awaken.
The phantom limbs of trees ache in their sockets
And lightning scars the gray matter of sky.
Something in him struggles to awaken.
Before us, in crooked lines, the veterans pass.
