Issue/Publication: entire poem appears in WORD DANCING (poems, prose & collages), published 2008.

Web Links

Jeanne Powell
© May 2008

STOP THE LOSS

[paragraph 9c of the enlistment contract states:
in the event of war, enlistment in the Armed Forces
continues until six (6) months after the war ends...]

ONE

Rumors of war, we're at it again,

only the 20th time since I came of age.

civilian bodies litter foreign boulevards,

American coffins fill airport corners.

we watch with resignation as reservists go off to die.

involunteers, unaware of stop loss,

and other sly devices utilized

to keep them at the front forever.

Now the women are dying, American women,

along with thousands of civilian fatalities

consecrating battlefields in Afghanistan,

a land so ancient that time has forgotten.

I never thought we would let that happen,

you and I, yes you, you're the ones I'm speaking to.

easy to overlook the loss of women

unless you see through patriotic headlines

into under-financed corners

of your tv screen at 2:00 in the morning.

Look closely at photographs ending

the News Hour on PBS, and you'll see

lipstick traces and locks of hair under

military headgear, with names like

Emma and Maria confronting you in silence,

that's how you tell.

of course, you only see those photos

after they die and next of kin are notified.

What did they hope to achieve, these women?

to serve well and support their families.

you read about the Native American marine,

single mother on a reservation

whose death so far away left two children

with only grandparents to care.

you know that earnest carpenter on cable,

who gives away houses to families in crisis?

he and his crew built a strong new house

for survivors of the dead reservist,

two bewildered elders raising orphans forever wounded

by the loss they were powerless to stop...

TWO

both parts One and Two of this poem

may be found in

WORD DANCING (poems, prose and art)

by Jeanne Powell

www.jeanne-powell.com

redroom.com/author/jeanne-powell