SOME IN PIECES
In World War Two
the oldest
of my uncles
picked up
dead bodies
dead weight
some in pieces
and threw them
onto the beds
of trucks.
His work spread
far as he could see.
When he came
home he poured
salted peanuts
into a Co-Cola
and prepared
for life
with folks
who could
never know
some things
as long
as they lived.
— Darnel Arnoult from What Travels With Us,
Louisiana State University Press
But we were young in judgement,
old in years
Who could make peace;
But it was war we chose,
to spread its canopy of poisoning airs.
~ Carolyn Kiser,
from On a Line from Valery
(The Gulf War)
Uni-verse
