during the war
my papaw saw visions

said the ground opened
like a mouth to eat him

fire and brimstone
letters to Helen lost

in the flux of bodies
in foxholes

scribbled eighteen
on the listing order

to fight in the battle of troy
with Achilles

he won a purple heart
pulled a man off the frontlines

and the war went on
and on
and on

until he forgot the sweet
lively hills of his home

in favor of the dead city
streets of the new world

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