LOSERS AND SUCKERS

by Nan Ottenritter

My Dad 

Date of enlistment:                                         21 May 40

Education:                                                     grammar 8, high school 2, college 0

Military occupation specialty:                       Surgical Technician 86

Battles and campaigns:                                 Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Central Europe

Demobilized at the

convenience of the Government RR 1-1:       July 28, 1945

Mustering out pay:                                         $300

For five years, two months, and eight days my Dad served

our country, proudly defeated fascism.

He is my hero, our hero, our American hero.

I wouldn’t trade him for all the fathers in the world.

Nor will I let anyone call him a loser or a sucker. 

Call him that, call me that too for I 

carry his beliefs, his pride, and his trauma.

I was enlisted as an American on the day of my birth,

I am a warrior up until this day, and I will never

muster out, have Donald’s government demobilize me,

stop campaigning for voting rights, justice, equality, 

health care: the battlegrounds of our time.

I will soldier on. Our current enemy will be defeated.

Author's Note: The first half of this is a found poem with language taken from my father’s discharge papers. Battles are unique to time and place, yet have commonalities. I will fight on, not only because it is right, but as an homage to my father and all service men and women.


Nan Ottenritter is a poet and musician who lives in Richmond, VA.

FOOLS AND LOSERS

by Michael L. Ruffin

My Fools
My grandfather (Army fool, Europe, WWI)
My father (Navy fool, Pacific, WWII)
My father-in-law (Marine fool, Pacific, WWII)
My uncle (Army Air Corps fool, Europe, WWII)
My three brothers-in-law (Air Force, Army, and Marine fools, Vietnam)

My Losers
My mother's (before she was my mother) fiance (Army loser, killed in France, WWII)
My cousin (Army loser, wounded in Vietnam)
My fifth-grade teacher's husband (Army loser, killed in Vietnam)

I know, and I hope
you know, that
they aren't really
fools and losers.

I also know, and I hope
you also know, that
anyone who thinks they are
is a fool and a loser.

It takes a real fool to think
of service as foolishness.

It takes a real loser to think
of sacrifice as losing.


Michael L. Ruffin is a writer, editor, preacher, and teacher living and working in Georgia. He posts poems on Instagram (@michaell.ruffin) and prose opinions at On the Jericho Road. He is author of Fifty-Seven: A Memoir of Death and Life and  of the forthcoming Praying with Matthew. His poetry has appeared at TheNewVerse.News, 3 Moon Magazine, Rat's Ass Review, and U-Rights Magazine.