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| Image source: 1stdibs |
Veterans Day Weekend 2014
easing back
as morphine
soothes his system
he remembers
the Great Depression
walking to school
through snow
without a coat
in shoes
that didn’t match
he drifts
to Guadalcanal
his tank under fire
the slow motion of
body parts in the water
the gunner’s beheading
crimes never mentioned
until his wife’s death
sixty years later
somewhere
his box of medals
now his mind turns bedside
his infant son
an iron lung
polio
the good man
he would become
wife’s smile
swirls the room
he smiles back
remembering
fields and farms from
their Piper Cub
tandem seating
their carnival of friends
ferris wheels
of laughter
his good fortune
the landscape of his
life a clean horizon
this night,
straining through pain
between tabs of morphine
he finds the faded
Navajo rug bought
from the back of a truck
their honeymoon stop
near Santa Fe
the light in the eyes
of his spunky bride
that night
under stars
he tosses the rug
to the garage floor
drops down hard
steadies the gun
metal to mouth
as he remembers
paying full price
without bargaining
Peg Quinn is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, mural and theatrical set painter, award winning quilter and art specialists at a private school in Santa Barbara, California.