Current State of Affairs

Years of fear have brought us here
Anger grew to hate
No one listens, no one talks
Now we fear our fate

Brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles
We're all torn apart
Everything we're supposed to love
We somehow have forgot

Until we listen we will not know
What others talk about
Stop the brain stop the pain
And listen with your heart

The walls must fall that divide us all
That keep us far apart
Bridges heal, bridges grow
Give us a new start

So stop the tears, and stop the fears
We need something new
Building love, building trust
building what is true

So take my hand we'll march together
Fight to live a new forever
Here for you, here for me
Here for all those that will be

And when we win, they will know
We fought with all our heart and soul
Fought for justice, Fought for life
Always fighting for what's right

 

Happy Birthday

June 9th 2000: The Devils win the Stanley Cup! 
Garett’s carrying a keg above his head. 
This place is CRAZY!

June 9th 2001: Twenty one! Limousine! Downtown Denver!
Avs beat the Devils in the Stanley Cup!
The Hungry Strangers are born!

June 9th 2002: Wow this year has been crazy!
Joined the Army, 9/11 happened, Went to basic
No we’re in Germany drinking at O’shea’s for our Birthday

June 9th 2003: Kosovo, this place is hell!
Cold in the winter, hot in the summer...
What the Fuck are we doing here?

June 9th 2004: Damn, I wish we were back in Kosovo, Iraq sucks!
130 degrees outside...
And guess what, getting shot at on he birthday! Fuck!

June 9th 2005: Been out of the military for 9 days. Should I be happy? 
My grandmother’s in the hospital and is going to die.
Why don’t I feel anything?

June 9th 2006: One more drink to help me forget
One more pill to kill the pain
Fighting for the numbness, that I hate so much...

June 9th 2007: It gets better, if you let it.
It gets better if you try.
Begin to put the pieces together and remake sense of everything

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This is a poem I wrote in 2013 at a Warrior Writers workshop and it was published in the Warrior Writers 4th Anthology.