HELLO, I AM NOT A SOLDIER
And yet I wear caution like a uniform
now, pulling myself into its rough sleeves
and old boots each morning
before I even think of coffee or how
the me who returns to this bed will not be
the me who left it. There is no flag,
mark, pattern or pin I can carry to convince
a person of what I will or will not do,
who I love or what I care about.
If I am kind, I must prove it by risking
kindness. I ration false comfort by knowing
it has never not been this way:
each day armed with infinite opportunities
to fail, and the chance of failure’s alternative
always racked like an ordinary bullet
within tens of thousands of identical seconds.
Wherever I go, I cling to my hope
like a weapon I have been trained to love.
—from Poets Respond
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Abby E. Murray: “As the next administration unveiled its picks for senior leadership and cabinet positions this week, I was especially struck by the terrible choice for a defense secretary: a man who has a history of demonizing any life that doesn’t closely mirror his own. Most of my daily work involves examining and bridging the canyons that divide military & civilian populations, and I am imagining how much harder it’s going to be next year. I wrote this poem as a way to connect my pacifist life to the lives of service members in danger. Happy veterans day indeed.” (web)
