Just to warn you, this one’s a little intense.
Perhaps you won’t be surprised, as the next theme on the list is
WAR
… Not the lightest subject.
I could have changed the sense of “war” to something less literal, sure — but then again, I couldn’t. It felt like a cop-out.
And then, of course, events conspired — as they usually do. A poem appeared. And here we are.
The poem, “This Is All I Know of War,” was partially inspired by the story of Jenny Nater, who wrote letters to her fiance Rick, lost at sea in WWII.
Not long after I read the article, I broke out crying at the dinner table. That’s how I knew I had to write about it.
This Is All I Know of War
This is all I know of war:
fire-flowers on a TV screen,
surround-sound chopping of copters,
whining bombs, shuddering earth.
Rat-tat-tat of bullets punching
through speakers, crisp, pristine.
I know pressed uniforms, gleaming
caskets, ladies in pearls, veiled hats
and ’40s curls standing, hands
clutching young fatherless sons.
How must it be to write letters
to a fiancé lost at sea, to be unable
to fathom the leagues between you
but to try, late at night, as you wake
open-mouthed, drowning?
How must it be to hear rat-tat-tat
and sand blooming, to see fires unfurling
like petals as your buddy’s face
crumples beneath?
In those final seconds, knowing
the long wait is over, the tension breaks;
the films can’t prepare you for this.
There are a lot of things we think we “know,” but we really don’t. At all. (And some, we hope to never find out about!)
What kind of “This Is All I Know of ___” poem could you write?
