"Black Beauty"
By Amy Sexauer
I know what it’s like
When angels come for you
Singing over the mountains
Black Beauty
Hope on rotors
They do not ride the wind
But create their own
My sister’s first tattoo
Says that she will find a way or make one
As she levels a building
My other sister
Carries saints
Giving last rites
Tieing up loved ones
To bring home
I always smile and wave
When I hear the thrum over the horizon
Echos from my childhood
My dad smells like boot polish
And old flight hangers
He recognizes dead faces in the newspaper
He knows the sound of dog tags breaking
I know what they sound like
Snapping against my kit
Soldiers giving birth to soldiers
My father watches me
Fight the war of his youth
I ride in helicopters
But won’t fly them
To say my family holds the sky
As we run beneath them
Is not poetic imagery
Amy Sexauer is a poet and author of Poppies, published by Dead Reckoning Collective, from which this poem was taken. She is a West Point graduate who spent nine years on active duty in Military Police and Psychological Operations units. She is currently a graduate student at Harvard University. Follow her here.
What’s happening at VetRep…
Join us tonight in front of The Lemon Building on Cornwall’s Main St, for the Cornwall Art Walk! Come and see the building interior, learn about some of VetRep’s projects in the area, and see some of the incredible pieces we have on display (and for sale) from Veteran artists!
Listen to our latest episode with Kimberly Evans on the Savage Wonder Podcast, where we interview incredibly talented musicians, artists, writers, and theater professionals, who also happen to be veterans.
Join us every Saturday through June for Gnit, by Will Eno, a cautionary tale about, among other things, how the opposite of love is laziness. Gnit is a faithful, unfaithful, and willfully American reading of Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt, a 19th century Norwegian play famous for all the wrong reasons. Settle in with a delicious mocktail and dessert, and be sure to get your tickets early or they might just sell out.