I am born of hot Hoosier nights
and heatwaves that curl wallpaper
in the mausoleum of forests,
now made from their bones;
which rest on foundations
of limestone, carved from the earth.
Dirt buried under my fingernails
from summers of toil, and summers
gone by...as I worked the soil
and dreamed of a different life.
I'm ages, and lifetimes
spent traveling distant lands.
I'm Kuwaiti and Iraqi desert sands,
"Kush" valleys and peaks
in Afghanistan,
these highs and lows...moments
searching for meaning, in life.
One of peace,
if perhaps...
I just endured enough strife
and pain, and death, and loss.
Now halfway through my time
I pause, and ponder...the crossroads
which stretch out ahead,
reminding me of simpler times.
County lines, that mean nothing
deep in the country.
It lies
and waits
in what so many just chuff at
as flyover states,
with "nuthin' to do"
so many blinded urbanites
unanimously quote.
They'll never really see,
how heat lightning dances
and lights up the sky, whenever the fireflies are hiding.
How the crickets chirp
while toads croak and croon.
How a thousand different lives
light up beneath a hunter's moon.
They won't hear the haunting
cadence of train-cars miles away,
or pause to listen to what these
old oaks and walnuts might say,
as this hot summer breeze
pulls itself through their leaves
as their branches and trunks
lurch and moan.
But I do.
I have,
and I'm finally
going
home.
s.p. burke is a retired intelligence analyst in the US Army. Follow him here. Listen to our Savage Wonder podcast episode with him here.
What’s happening at VetRep…
Listen to our interview this week with Army Ranger and Author, Jason Kasper on the Savage Wonder Podcast.
VetRep is thrilled to present seven veteran-authored 10-minute plays each Saturday night during July. Denis Meadows’ poignantly thrilling A Brush Against the Indifference of the Universe, Arianna Rose’s funny Sex, Lies & Syrofoam, Richard Fouts’ madcap comedy Fast-Moving Consumer Goods, Jack Rushton’s provocative George’s Radio, Terry Glaser’s Greek myth-turned-film noir The Big Dark, Donald Ranard’s thoughtful Elbow.Apple.Carpet.Saddle.Bubble, and VetRep Artist-in-Residence Daniel Guyton’s absurdist Service for None. Get your tickets here before they sell out!
We are currently offering multiple dates for our online and in-person Playwriting for Veterans classes, and our Acting for Beginners class is now being offered weekly every Saturday from 10am-12pm. Scholarships for qualifying veterans, as well as multi-class passes are available. Registration details can be found here.
This one was haunting. Very good.