"Birds, Poppies, and (Diego or Carlos or Michael)"

By Dex

It is a good story
I tell it to myself
when I can tear off a scab
and stare inside the raw flesh
of a dream
that would have killed me.
It is a novel with the last chapter
torn out
A lullaby that clings to your mouth
it breathes
like a living thing
A fable
where orange poppies cover the front yard
brought from California
in some fast bird’s belly.
It smells like it did when I
stood on the edge
of the bluest lake I’d ever seen
like pines and rocks and sure feet
and we
are laughing at the fat cheeks
of a boy with
tight brown curls
and he
feeds a chicken
from kitchen scraps
and we
have only smiles
puffed proud hearts
for this yard of poppies.

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Dex is a poet and former USMC Military Police Officer. You can follow her here.

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What’s happening at VetRep…

The Parlor is back! This coming Saturday will be the first showing of “The Absurdity of it All” by Chris Soucy, a VetRep Resident Artist. Chris is an Army veteran, co-founder of Odd Lot Improv and the Savannah Shakes Theater Company, and has worked as an actor, puppeteer, writer, director, and filmmaker, with over 30 years of experience in the theater industry. We are thrilled to produce “The Absurdity of it All”, as the first full-length play written for VetRep by a Resident Artist, promising a truly unique performance you can’t get anywhere else. Get your tickets before they sell out!

We would also like to extend our gratitude to Arts Mid Hudson for awarding VetRep the Duchess programmatic grant in support of this production.

This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by Arts Mid-Hudson.