We who are left, who did not die in wars,
observe today as giving special space
for honoring the slaughtered and all vets
who hangāin, or hangāout, and allātooāoften
hang themselves when they canāt kick
the enemy from ordinary life. I hide inside
and turn off the TV. How can I celebrate
a generosity of sacrifice I find mistaken
at its core, based on a premise so obscene
it wounds us all? Well, keep this small. My
sonāinālaw had something blow up in his
face in Vietnam and lived to disagree with me.
With him Iāll celebrate, quite easily,
respect and love: mutual victory.
Memorial Day
Janeal Turnbull Ravndal lives in Yellow Springs, Ohio
Posted in: May 2014: Mental Health and Wellness, Poetry
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February 2019
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Features
Fox Hut by Cameron McWhirter
Surprised by Joy by Kat Griffith
Bearing False Witness by Andrew Huff
Paying as Led by Molly Wingate
Eleven Steps toward an Enduring World by Robert Dockhorn
Asylum Seekers Need Action, Not Apathy by Janice Pulliam
Why I Got Arrested at the Border by Lucy Duncan
Poetry
Court Watch by Helen Fox
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