Letter Home
by John Grey
His letter from the war
was cleared by the censors.
That's the meaning of the purple stamp.
This letter can depart the battlefield
by the usual channels,
catch a plane to the US,
wend its way through
that incomparable maze the postal service.
There's nothing of troop movements
on its lightweight paper.
The writing's scrawled and smudged
but no hint that that's from low morale.
There's no slights to fellow soldiers.
No dwelling on the ones that died
nor the officers that ordered them
into treacherous territory.
Slurs of politicians are fine.
But the military protects its own.
He's managed to skirt
all that's forbidden.
It's almost like a child writing home
from summer camp
except for the baseball game
interrupted by sniper fire.
It's mostly all "miss you"
and "love you" with the occasional proviso,
"and the kids."
The people in charge are fine with that.
They understand that
a soldier would rather be home
with his family
than stuck in a foxhole
trading bullets with the enemy.
Pining and dislocation...
That's where the kills come from.
Gyroscope Review 56
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