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War and Peace
Spring 2014   Vol. 30 #2
Spring 2014   Vol. 30 #2

Poems/Not Poems

A Torch Is Lit

By Jon Turner

 
 

 

We used to laugh at him,

Staff Sergeant

Platoon Sergeant

The old crooked man with a lisp

who kept one eye open as he slept,

We all thought he was just crazy.

 

He said to us,

“Where do you think you’re goin’,

Hawaii?  No, you’re goin’ into harm’s

way.”

 

He spoke very little about the invasion in 2003—

we watched as his eyes had changed,

They were not angry anymore

They were hurt

 

We never laughed after that

We listened and he

stopped yelling

We learned quickly

that if you are being taught how to fire

a weapon, how to clean a weapon,

how to carry a weapon in formation;

it is best to listen—

 

War is only the next place you may be

and shooting stars are not the only counts of death.

 

∞

 

From the Spring 2014 issue of Inquiring Mind (Vol. 30, No. 2)
© 2014 Jon Turner

Topics

Military, Survival, Veterans, War


artist-image

Author

Jon Turner has used poetry and other forms of creative expression to understand his wartime experience in Iraq. He served two tours of duty in Iraq as an infantryman with the marines, as well as a humanitarian mission in Haiti in 2004. Currently Turner lives in Vermont with his family, working to build sustainable food operations with local farmers while further transcribing his memories with veterans. To learn more, visit WildRootsFarmVermont.com.

Author

Jon Turner has used poetry and other forms of creative expression to understand his wartime experience in Iraq. He served two tours of duty in Iraq as an infantryman with the marines, as well as a humanitarian mission in Haiti in 2004. Currently Turner lives in Vermont with his family, working to build sustainable food operations with local farmers while further transcribing his memories with veterans. To learn more, visit WildRootsFarmVermont.com.

artist-image
 
 
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