ellfonte

[ my grandfather was in the korean war. ]

my grandfather was in the korean war.

his eyes had drapes for eyelids and his hands were velcro when they touched my silk tie

when the gate latch broke he fixed it 

and i realized things did not just appear–

i was five–

and when he told me:

never

go

to 

war

was when i realized

i am lucky to be here.

the man who could reassemble his weapon

with a blindfold on

watched me play with legos

and told me,

plant

seeds;

i just moved his plants in for the winter

they outlasted him, as he wanted them to

have grown wild,

i have grown mortal,

in his eyes i was the sun,

never told him bad news,

never breathed in bad fumes,

never will go to war, except with loss,

morning comes and i cannot rise,

but even a fluorescent bulb

is blinding

in the night,

the time he mortared the enemy fort,

the ground-shuddering breath that conquers stone,

that makes a man happy to sell car parts and have a family

that will never have to feel like fleas

against the torrential horrors of physics.

- See more at: http://allpoetry.com/poem/11723220--my-grandfather-was-in-the-korean-war.---by-ellafonte#sthash.LBonUO17.dpuf

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