3,200 WI troops leave for …

3,200 WI troops leave for …


My meat loaf keeps falling apart.
This isn’t my best day. My broccoli
is mushy and the potatoes still
hard. The dog ate my black leather
boot and I got a ticket for speeding
again. The house now is lonely
and cold, the oil tank gauge reads
empty. Your mother tried to smile
as we waved. I told Eli you’d find
him some ammo. The red wine you
bought is now biter, I need
whiskey to sweeten the ride. This morning
I didn’t fluff the pillows on the couch,
the echo of your body sits beside me.
The Red Arrow Brigade is never defeated,
but I know we lost the day your second
papers arrived. My meatloaf keeps falling
apart, I tell myself it can do it for me.
I won’t cry this time. No crying
until you come home. No crying in front
of the babies. No crying when we talk
on the phone. I knew when I married
a soldier. I knew not to ask, not to tell.
I knew you could take me to heaven
and those idiots would send us to hell.

Ziji Salaam
2/18/09