Monday, November 12, 2012

Two Poems for Veterans Day

I stayed up late last night writing the old-fashioned way; with a pen and paper. Sometimes that works better for me.

Anyway, these are both for the Day 11 prompt contributed by Rob Halpin for Poem-a-Day.

Photo by Thomas Brauchle



Fourth of July

Television drowns out
reruns in his imagination,
no such thing as friendly fire

**

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Nothing's wrong.
Went home,

two legs, both hands
intact.

Body looks
fine. Mind stayed

behind, forever
broken.


**




12 comments:

  1. Both excellent poems, Linda. They show a truth that most don't want to see or think about. Strong.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love both pieces...succinct and powerful.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh, my. THIS:
    "Mind stayed

    behind, forever
    broken."

    Perfect.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much, De.
      I appreciate your feedback.
      xo

      Delete
  4. Stunningly moving, Linda.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I pen served you well! I am moved by both.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Poignant stunning succinct poems Linda - wow!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting, Sharon. :-)

      Delete
  7. Very excellent poems Linda. Recently I watched the BBC version of Who do you think you are with Patrick Stewart. His late father was an extremely violent man. When Stewart dug into his father's life he discovered a broken man who must have had so much PTSD that it's a wonder he didn't do something horrible. He even went thru electric shock therapy and LSD therapy to try to curb his violence. Imagine all the people who suffered in the past because it wasn't recognised.

    ReplyDelete