May 25, 2025On My Parents’ Wedding Photo This Memorial Day
When I look at the both of you in your wedding photo,
him, in his uniform, you, in wedding gown, with flowers,
I find myself asking what you thought about your futures,
which, of course, I know and you couldn’t possibly know;
an ordinary black-and-white photo, taken in some studio,
though it’s crazy of me to think anything ordinary in war,
him, about to be deployed, who will come back and father
me; you, who, when he’s again in some VA hospital, will go
see him and will bring him brand new black slippers; though
you know he won’t be getting up, you bring him new slippers,
which you keep in a hall closet, next to a suitcase with letters,
his V-mail and other papers, regarding his convulsive-electro
shock treatments, and a death certificate citing “pneumonia,”
and a plot number, which has in marble: “Tank Destroyer.”
from Poets Respond